Joan Baez Says a ‘Little Green Worm’ Has Eaten Donald Trump’s Brain in Scathing New Poem

Folk icon Joan Baez has released a new poem that takes aim at former President Donald Trump, appearing online on Oct. 23, 2025. In the piece she imagines a tiny green creature eroding the parts of his brain responsible for compassion and self-control.

Published via Rolling Stone, the poem — titled “Little Green Worm: A Note to the President” — portrays the worm as entering Trump’s anterior insular cortex, the region linked to empathy, then progressing to the prefrontal cortex, which governs impulse control and social behavior. Baez uses the metaphor to explain what she sees as a deficit of empathy and poor judgment in the politician. Read the Rolling Stone feature.

In the poem Baez suggests the worm prevents the expression of restraint, leaving behind crude or offensive remarks and a diminished capacity for thoughtful decision-making. At one point the narrator inspects the brain area that should produce rational thought and finds it empty — a closing image that underscores the poem’s biting satire.

The release arrives as activists continue to organize under movements such as the “No Kings” rallies protesting the policies of the twice-impeached president. No Kings protesters have been staging demonstrations in several cities.

Billboard has contacted the White House for comment.

Baez — who emerged as a leading voice of 1960s protest culture — has long incorporated political conviction into her public life and music. Earlier this year she told comedian John Mulaney that she felt America’s institutions were under severe strain and criticized the stewardship of powerful elites.

Speaking with Rolling Stone about why she chose poetry over song for this subject, Baez said that writing verse helps her process the anxiety and sorrow of the present moment and keeps her grounded: creating poems, she explained, is a way to put feelings down on the page and regain perspective.

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