DJT loses in court. What do you mean you didn't hear about it? Issac Hayes estate wins--BIG.

Comparison:

. . . picture the campaign playlist as a kind of retail theft. Not the glamorous kind, not the ‘Ocean’s Eleven‘ kind, just the plain kind where someone strolls out with something small because they assume no one is going to stop them. That is how political campaigns sometimes treat music, like it is a communal resource, a public utility, a mood-setting spray bottle you can mist over the crowd. You want triumph, you want swagger, you want nostalgia, and you want the feeling that history is about to break in your favor. You grab a song that already contains those feelings and you let it do the work.

“. . . mood-setting spray bottle“ indeed! Shanley Hurt writing on FB for Oregon's Bay Area notes that the estate of Isaac Hayes successfully sued the Trump organization for 133 instances of copyright infringement wherein his campaign repeatedly used the Hayes song “Hold On, I’m Coming“ without permission. Trump's lawyers quietly settled with none of the normal bluster and histrionics that go with the Orange-one's legal battles.

Context:

If you want to understand this case emotionally, forget the courthouse for a second and picture the campaign playlist as a kind of retail theft. Not the glamorous kind, not the ‘Ocean’s Eleven‘ kind, just the plain kind where someone strolls out with something small because they assume no one is going to stop them. That is how political campaigns sometimes treat music, like it is a communal resource, a public utility, a mood-setting spray bottle you can mist over the crowd. You want triumph, you want swagger, you want nostalgia, and you want the feeling that history is about to break in your favor. You grab a song that already contains those feelings and you let it do the work.

. . .

So, the estate of Isaac Hayes, one of the song’s co-writers, sued, alleging the song had been used at Trump events without permission. A judge issued an injunction telling the campaign to stop using it while the case played out. Then, this week, the whole thing ended in a settlement and a dismissal.

Citation:

Hurt, Shanley. FB post on Oregon's Bay Area. 24 Feb. 2026. Web.

(Graphic image design by Lee Aigue; initial visual image courtesy of ChatGPT, Feb. 2026.)