Why did Jeff Daniels write a song about Trump? Tumpty Dumpty Blues significance explored as The Comedy Rules star speaks out against president

Jeff Daniels has made his name with acclaimed performances on stage and screen, but in recent years he has become better known for his views on politics. One of his most memorable political controversies included his song Trumpty Dumpty Blues, which took direct aim at US President Donald Trump over his coronavirus response.

Daniels, best known for his roles in The Newsroom, Dumb and Dumber, and The Comey Rule, dropped the song in October 2020, when the country was facing severe pandemic restrictions, mere weeks before the presidential election.

In Trumpty Dumpty Blues, he addressed Trump’s public statements and his seemingly lying about the virus. As Jeff Daniels’ lyrics suggest, the passages of Trump playing down the virus were overlaid with Daniels’ audio, emphasizing the disparity between the president’s personal fears and public reassurances.

"We’ll beat the virus. Maybe it’s Trump that we can’t survive... Just like that apple fell for Isaac Newton / so did Trump for Vladimir Putin." Jeff Daniels quips in his song.

According to Deadline, the actor said that the song was his method of making sense of what he perceived as false or divisive statements. Daniels had just completed playing the former FBI Director James Comey in The Comey Rule, a Showtime miniseries that delved into Comey’s turbulent relationship with Trump.

A look into Jeff Daniels's other criticisms of Donald Trump and his administration

Trumpty Dumpty Blues wasn’t Jeff Daniels’ only foray into political commentary. He has previously expressed strong reservations about Trump’s presidency over the years, cautioning that the President has undermined democratic institutions in America.

Re-electing Trump, Daniels said in a 2019 interview on MSNBC, would be the equivalent of “the end of democracy.” He also criticized the direction the Republican Party has taken, comparing it to “the madness of King George” and criticizing its growing polarization.

"A mob is a place where people go to take a break from their conscience. … That’s what I see when I look at Donald Trump’s rallies, that’s when I see the lies he’s spewing at these people, and people going, ‘I gotta believe in something,’" he said during the interview.

If you don’t see the bottom feeding weasels screaming out at the only people actually doing anything to fix it, like #JeffDaniels here, you might be irrelevant sooner than you think. https://t.co/HzKpyWq6HD

— OKCyberGeek🇺🇸 (@OKCyberGeek) July 21, 2025

In a recent interview with MSNBC, Daniels looked back on Vice President Kamala Harris’s failed campaign for president, stating that she would have been a great governor like Abraham Lincoln.

"I still think about Kamala, and how I think she would have been a good choice... I don't care what they say, because she would have done what Lincoln did."

Jeff Daniels criticized the Trump administration stating that Donald Trump has been surrounded by a bunch of yes men who have destabilized the government.

"That's what Lincoln did, surrounded himself with the people who would disagree with him, not the people who would, you know, take a knee and go, ‘Yeah, more tariffs, sir, more.’" he added.

While admitting that he is “just an actor,” Daniels has not shied away from being a cultural figure who uses his voice to address political matters.