Bruce Springsteen’s European tour is scheduled to wrap in Milan the day before Independence Day. But the rock legend may not be feeling very welcome back home.
Springsteen has been sparring with President Donald Trump over the past few days, with Trump escalating the war of words Friday morning. Sometimes entertaining and sometimes ominous, the mini-feud pits two septuagenarians against each other in the least surprising way possible. And while unlikely to move the needle in 2028, the fact that Trump gave in to his boorish impulses is ultimately mostly just a personal gift to the Boss.
It all started on Wednesday, during the first stop of Springsteen’s “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour in Manchester, England. Fairly predictably, and with video and audio conveniently rolling, the Boss took aim at Trump and his administration.
“The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ’n’ roll in dangerous times,” he said in the minute-long speech, to raucous cheers.
“In my home, 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 continued before asking fans to “raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring!”
Later in the evening, Springsteen offered a withering takedown of what he’s seen happening in the U.S. under Trump.
“They are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent,” Springsteen began, in remarks that were later posted on his website and YouTube channel. He continued:
They’re rolling back historic Civil Rights legislation that led to a more just and plural society. They’re abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom. They’re defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideological demands. They’re removing residents off American streets and, without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons.
He also took aim at Trump’s fellow Republicans, as well as the Democratic Party, arguing that they had all failed to protect Americans “from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government.”
Still, he said, “The America that I’ve sung to you about for 50 years is real, and regardless of its faults is a great country with a great people. So, we’ll survive this moment.”
The White House almost immediately responded, dismissing Springsteen as “an elite and out-of-touch” celebrity: “Bruce is welcome to stay overseas while hardworking Americans enjoy a secure border and cooling inflation thanks to President Trump.”
Then, Friday morning, apparently from Air Force One on the way back from his Middle East trip, Trump shot back via social media.
“I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden.”
Calling Springsteen dumb and perhaps visually impaired, Trump ended on a personal note.
Calling Springsteen dumb and perhaps visually impaired, Trump ended on a personal note: “This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just ‘standard fare.’ Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”
Given the aggressive approach the Trump administration has taken over the past three months, the tone was a bit unsettling. Was it a direct warning or just an attempt to chill artistic speech more generally? Or both? (The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada swiftly condemned Trump’s remarks, noting, “Musicians have the right to freedom of expression.”)
Of course, this is not the first time Springsteen has publicly criticized Trump, calling him “a flagrant toxic narcissist” during the 2016 campaign. And he regularly appears — especially during presidential campaigns — at major Democratic Party events. The title track of Springsteen’s 1984 album “Born in the U.S.A.,” which criticized the Vietnam War and the subsequent treatment of American veterans, was embraced by President Ronald Reagan as a modern American anthem, even though its lyrics paint a far darker picture. Springsteen is 75 now and not making new music of any real impact. His forthcoming release, “Tracks II: The Lost Albums,” the long-awaited follow-up to his “Tracks” box set of studio outtakes from 1998, includes seven unreleased albums, the bulk of which weren’t recorded in this century. Certainly he knew there was a good chance Trump would react angrily. The pristine video posted to his website (and the transcript of his polemic) definitely telegraphed that. By taunting Trump and getting him to punch down, Springsteen gets to play the hero again to his legions of fans. It also gives him a jolt of cultural relevance — or at least a news cycle or two — at a good time. I want to believe that Springsteen’s speech — which was cheered as a “must-watch” across my social media feed — was delivered for unselfish reasons. There’s certainly no doubt he meant every word of what he said. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to have much of a discernible impact. Within minutes of responding to Springsteen’s comments, Trump had weirdly, but perhaps not surprisingly, moved on to Taylor Swift. “Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’” Trump wrote, suggesting that his recent criticism of Swift has made her less of a global phenom in recent months. Of course this is preposterous. Swift, who was the top-selling global artist of 2024, isn’t performing much at the moment because she only just wrapped up her record-breaking “Eras Tour” in December. Could it be that Trump was having second thoughts about taking Springsteen’s bait? Maybe. But probably not.
Jeff Slate
Jeff Slate is a New York City-based songwriter and journalist. His writing can be found at The New Yorker, Esquire, The Wall Street Journal and Rolling Stone, among others. He tweets at @jeffslate. 
