Bette Midler has debuted a modern take on Woody Guthrie's 1940 protest song 'All You Fascists,' reworking it into an anthem criticizing the second Trump administration. The track, co-written with Eric Kornfeld, calls for action against certain policies ahead of midterm elections. A music video featuring several celebrities launched on April 24.
Bette Midler, speaking from her Los Angeles home, expressed distress over what she described as the Trump administration's war profiteering, anti-trans rhetoric, and ICE raids, including those linked to the deaths of Minnesota residents Alex Pretti and Renee Good. 'The insanity that’s happening, this unprecedented destruction of all of normal behavior, has affected me very badly,' Midler told Rolling Stone. The idea for the song came after a conversation with Jane Fonda, who suggested they needed an anthem, prompting Midler to revisit Guthrie's World War II-era track that originally targeted poll taxes, Jim Crow laws, and race hatred. Midler co-wrote the 2026 version with Eric Kornfeld to address current policies and boost midterm voter turnout. Lyrics include lines like 'We’ll battle ICE together/Until they cut and run/Just like in Minneapolis/And when the midterms come, You’re bound to lose/You fascists, bound to lose,' and references to Epstein files and protection of pedophiles. The music video, co-directed by Toni Basil and Seanne Farmer, features Midler's 'Beaches' co-star Barbara Hershey alongside David Hyde Pierce, Jenifer Lewis, and Shoshana Bean. Midler views the song as a nod to the protest music of the 1950s and 1960s, a time she recalls fondly from her early folk group days in college. 'Everybody [back then] had a guitar and everybody had a song,' she said. 'I think that we could all use a little bit of that meaning in our lives right now.'
