Springsteen has long been one of the President’s most outspoken celebrity critics. He called Trump “the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime,” accused his administration of undermining civil rights, and released music portraying America as being led by a “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.” In January, he also condemned ICE’s “gestapo tactics,” which prompted a schoolyard rebuttal from the White House, and shared his protest song “Streets of Minneapolis” following the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
After performing at a No Kings rally in St. Paul, Springsteen used the opening night of his Land of Hope and Dreams Tour to ridicule Trump and his former Attorney General Pam Bondi, saying that the latter was taking “marching orders straight from a corrupt White House.” He told the audience, “We are living through some very dark times. Our American values that have sustained us for 250 years are being challenged as never before.” Earlier this month, Trump took an anti-Bruce stance on Truth Social, accusing him of having an “incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome” before dismissing the musician as a “total loser who spews hate against a President who won a Landslide Election, including the popular vote, all Seven Swing States, and 86% of the Counties across America.”
But in response to Saturday’s incident, Springsteen substituted his usual animosity with a call for peaceful action: “We can disagree. We can be critical of those in power, and we can peacefully fight for our beliefs, but there is no place in any way, shape, or form for political violence of any kind in our beloved United States.” The Land of Hope and Dreams Tour has been framed by Springsteen as a “celebration and defense of our American ideals, our democracy, our Constitution.” The tour resumes Wednesday in Chicago and will carry on through the end of May.
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