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Billie Eilish says 'Donald Trump is destroying our country' in Democratic National Convention speech

Billie Eilish is the voice of Generation Z, and at age 18, she — along with much of her young and politically savvy US based fans — will be voting in her first presidential election this November.

Before performing her new single My Future for the first time this Wednesday during the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the Grammy-winning singer made it abundantly clear who will get her vote, and she urged her fans to follow her lead.

“You don't need me to tell you things are a mess. Donald Trump is destroying our country and everything we care about,” Eilish said as she solemnly, directly addressed the camera.

“We need leaders who will solve problems like climate change and COVID, not deny them. Leaders who will fight against systemic racism and inequality. And that starts by voting for someone who understands how much is at stake. Someone who’s building a team that shares our values. It starts with voting against Donald Trump and for Joe Biden.

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“Silence is not an option, and we cannot sit this one out. We all have to vote like our lives and the world depend on it — because they do. The only way to be certain of the future is to make it ourselves. Please register. Please vote.”

A photo illustration of a laptop computer screen shows musician Billie Eilish performing on the third night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, which is being held almost entirely virtually, in Washington, D.C., on August 19, 2020, amid the Coronavirus pandemic. (Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA)
Billie Eilish performs on the third night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, which is being held almost entirely virtually, in Washington, DC. (Sipa USA)

Eilish’s speech and performance came on a night dominated by the crucial issue of climate change, a cause near and dear to the artist’s heart.

As Wednesday’s DNC host Kerry Washington noted, Eilish was known for her activism and environmentalism long before she was even old enough to vote, working to ensure that her most recent tour was green and sustainable and holding registration drives before her concerts to sign up thousands of young new voters.

Billie Eilish performs during the third night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, August 19 2020. Former Vice President Joe Biden is officially nominated as the Democratic candidate for President of the United States. (Photo by Democratic National Convention/Sipa USA)
Billie Eilish performs during the third night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention. (Sipa USA)

Another issue that was a major focus during Wednesday’s DNC broadcast was gun control, addressed by another voice of Generation Z, Parkland school shooting survivor and activist Emma González.

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“People affected by everyday gun violence have to walk by the street corner where their best friend, their brother, their mother, their nephew, where they themselves were shot, and life goes on and on as if we all haven't just watched a loved one die and get put in the grave,” González said.

“The whole point of what I'm saying here is until one of us or all of us stand up and say, ‘I can't do this anymore, I can't sit by and watch the news treat these shootings like acts of God,’ gun violence isn't just going to stop until there's a force fighting harder against it.

“And I'm going to do something to prevent it.. …What we're fighting for will happen because we're fighting so strongly for it. We’re going to make this change.”

Also courting the youth vote, as well as the Latinx vote, on Wednesday evening was another musical performer, Dominican-American singer-songwriter Prince Royce, who sang a unifying, Spanish-language version of Ben E. King’s Stand by Me, which had been his debut hit single in 2010.

"Mi gente, let's stand by each other and don't forget to vote this November," he said at the end of the song. "Together, we can make a change."

The third day of the DNC also featured a performance by Jennifer Hudson and speeches by former secretary of state and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, senator and vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, and former president Barack Obama.