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What's The 'Hostile Government Takeover' Song? @AGiftFromTodd's Viral TikTok Song Featured On 'John Oliver' Explained
People trying to make sense of Elon Musk and the various new cuts and regulations pumped out by his Department of Government Efficiency have taken to music and dance to express their frustrations on TikTok.
A catchy song by TikToker @agiftfromtodd aka TJ that jokes about Musk and Trump supposedly undertaking a "hostile government takeover" in 2025 has become the subject of numerous memes and remixes, with people finding dark humor in a song where TJ warns against a new, dark frontier in American politics even as he acknowledges that there is not much he can do besides go to work and maybe drink.
The song even made an appearance on the progressive HBO show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, where the host called it the "perfect encapsulation of this moment." Here's a recap of the track, and how the internet is reacting to it.
Where Did The 'Hostile Government Takeover' Song Come From?
On February 4th, 2025, TikToker and songmaker @agiftfromtodd posted a video singing the lyrics, "We're in the middle of a hostile government takeover." The video showed Todd aka TJ puttering around his house while getting the work, and just recording himself from a casual handhead angle as he grabbed his keys and belongings.
The clip has since gathered over 5 million plays and 1.3 million likes in the past two weeks, and numerous Stitches and Duets.
@agiftfromtodd 🙃
The lyrics to the song are transcribed below:
We’re in the middle of a hostile government takeover
I wanna talk about it but I’ll be late for work
And if you’re saying "Wait a minute, who we have to stop this?"
We had one, but you didn’t want that lady in office.
Now that we’re all part of a Nigerian prince scam
Surprise, surprise, it ended up being a white man
Oh, I just wanna know what the h--- do I do?
Probably drink.
How Did Other Internet Users React To The 'Hostile Government Takeover' Song?
On February 5th, 2025, TikToker @casadimusic posted a video remixing @AGiftFromTodd's "Hostile Government Takeover" song, gathering over 1.2 million plays and 190,000 likes in two weeks.
A day later, on February 6th, TikToker @veryveryvinny posted a remix of the song that quickly became the most popular version of the track, gathering 1.9 million plays and and TJ's stamp of approval.
@casadimusic Replying to @sasha.vrg @Todd (TJ) #remix #viralsounds ♬ original sound – CasaDi
@veryveryvinny Your song deserved an EDM remix @Todd (TJ) ♬ Hostile Government Takeover – Todd (TJ)
Both TJ's original video and VeryVeryVinny's remix were reposted to Reddit's /r/BlackPeopleTwitter and /r/TopTalent subs, where the posts gathered several thousand upvotes each.
How Did The 'Hostile Government Takeover' Song Go Viral?
On February 11th, American musician and DJ Moby posted a minute-long remix of the song to TikTok, gathering over 590,000 plays and 98,000 likes in a week.
@moby 60 second remix of the best song of 2025… @Todd (TJ) ♬ Hostile Government Takeover – Todd (TJ)
Later that week on February 16th, 2025, British comedian John Oliver featured the song in a segment of his show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver that discussed Trump's second term in office, calling it the "perfect encapsulation of this moment."[6] The feature further boosted the song's virality in the following days.
For the full history of the Hostile Government Takeover Song, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.
