They’ve some similarities, Bruce Springsteen and Donald Trump — guys of their 70s with houses in New Jersey and massive constituencies amongst white American males middle-aged and older. And each, in very totally different respects, are the boss.
That is about the place it ends.
The veteran rock star, lengthy a political opponent of the president, stood up as one in all Trump’s most distinguished cultural critics final week with a verbal takedown from a British stage.
As is his nature, Trump is preventing again — laborious. He calls Springsteen a “dried out prune of a rocker” and is even bringing Beyoncé into the fray.
On Monday, the president urged Springsteen and Beyoncé must be investigated to see if appearances they made on behalf of his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, final fall represented an unlawful marketing campaign donation.
Opening a tour in Manchester, England, Springsteen advised his viewers final Thursday that “the America I love, the America I’ve written about that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.”
He added, “Tonight we ask all who consider in democracy and the very best of our American experiment to rise with us, elevate your voices towards authoritarianism and let freedom ring.”
And the backwards and forwards started
Springsteen later made reference to an “unfit president and a rogue government” who’ve “no concern or idea for what it means to be deeply American.”
The following morning, Trump known as Springsteen extremely overrated. “Never liked him, never liked his music or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — just a pushy, obnoxious JERK,” he wrote on social media.
“This dried out prune of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back in the Country,” he mentioned.
The following evening, additionally in Manchester, Springsteen repeated his criticisms.
“It’s no surprise what Springsteen’s political leanings are and have been for many decades,” mentioned veteran music author Alan Mild, writer of the upcoming “Don’t Stop: Why We (Still) Love Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours.” “He’s somebody who has been outspoken in his music and his actions.”
The Boss’ statements this week confirmed he wasn’t afraid to talk out “at a time when so many people and institutions are just kind of rolling over,” Mild mentioned.
On Tuesday, Canadian-American rocker Neil Younger weighed in on his web site on behalf of Springsteen below the headline “TRUMP!!!”
“What are you worryin about man?” he mentioned. “Bruce and thousands of musicians think you are ruining America. You worry about that instead of the dyin’ kids in Gaza. That’s your problem. I am not scared of you. Neither are the rest of us.”
He added: “Taylor Swift is right. So is Bruce. You know how I feel. You are worried more about yourself than AMERICA.”
Springsteen is not new to this sport
It is not the primary time Springsteen has spoken out towards Trump — or a Republican president.
When former President Ronald Reagan referenced Springsteen’s “message of hope” at a marketing campaign cease through the top of the rocker’s “Born in the USA” recognition, Springsteen puzzled if Reagan had listened to his music and its references to these left behind within the Nineteen Eighties financial system. He additionally has had an sometimes bumpy relationship with onetime Republican presidential candidate and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a fan of his music.
Springsteen has campaigned for Trump’s opponents, together with Harris final fall. In 2020, he mentioned that “a good portion of our fine country, to my eye, has been thoroughly hypnotized, brainwashed by a con man from Queens.”
He is aware of the outer-borough reference nonetheless stung a person who constructed his personal tower in Manhattan and ascended to the presidency. Trump usually stays at his golf membership in Bedminster, New Jersey. Springsteen grew up in New Jersey — you will have heard — and lives in Colts Neck, New Jersey, now.
Trump does not hesitate to go after the most important musical names that talk out towards him, like Beyoncé and Swift. However the political threat could also be much less; their youthful, extra feminine audiences are much less more likely to intersect with Trump’s core constituency.
Throughout his profession, Springsteen has challenged his viewers politically past presidential endorsements. The 1995 album “The Ghost of Tom Joad” bluntly documented the lives of struggling immigrants — Mexican and Vietnamese amongst them. And his 2001 tune “American Pores and skin (41 Photographs),” criticized the taking pictures by New York Metropolis law enforcement officials of an unarmed Guinean immigrant named Amadou Diallo, angering a number of the blue-collar segments of his fan base.
Clearly, Springsteen has conservative followers and a few who want he’d keep away from politics, Mild mentioned. Nonetheless, “40 years later, it’s hard to imagine what they think would happen” with Trump, he mentioned.
Whereas Trump made some extent to reference Springsteen’s criticism in an abroad present, he and the E Road Band have not carried out in the USA since earlier than the 2024 election. His tour final 12 months hit closely on themes of mortality, much less of politics. He has a number of European tour dates scheduled this 12 months into July and hasn’t introduced any new American exhibits.
