Calling out Donald Trump is the work of a patriot, according to Bruce Springsteen.
Speaking to PBS NewsHour to mark the opening of the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, the 76-year-old rocker reflected on making his music explicitly political during the segment titled, “Bruce Springsteen: Finding America in Song.”
“I believe in critical patriotism,” he said. “I believe that’s the definition of a patriot, you know, that you love your country so much that you are willing to look at it clearly, recognize its faults, encourage it to be a better place, and believe that you carry in your heart the country that is waiting.”
Springsteen slammed Donald Trump throughout his latest “Land of Hopes and Dreams” tour and music releases. He opened the tour in Manchester, England, by declaring 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.”
Trump responded with personal attacks, writing that Springsteen is a “bad and very boring singer,” who “looks like a dried-up prune.”
Still, Springsteen kept the theme when he announced the American leg, telling fans, “We will be rocking your town in celebration and in defense of America—American democracy, American freedom, our American Constitution, and our sacred American dream—all of which are under attack by our wannabe king and his rogue government in Washington, D.C.” He told PBS that he hadn’t always set out to be so on-the-nose in his music.
“I was very angry,” he said, following the two shooting deaths of American citizens at the hands of ICE in January. “And, usually, I write songs that have a lot of political implications but very often are not directly political.” That ultimately wasn’t the case when he released “The Streets of Minneapolis,” in which he sings about “King Trump’s private army from the DHS.”
“In this case, I wrote a protest song,” he said. “I thought, ‘Gee, maybe this is a little broad,’ you know? But then I had my buddy Tom Morello, from Rage Against the Machine, and he says, ‘No, no, no.’ He says, ‘Bruce, nuance is great, but sometimes, you gotta kick ’em in the teeth.’” The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer agreed. “These are dangerous times.”
“Obviously, our democracy is threatened. The Constitution is threatened. We have an administration that, in my humble opinion, is a ship of fools.” He added, “You have a cultural obligation to speak when you can.”
Springsteen told PBS that he remains optimistic about the country’s future despite Trump’s second term. “It’s not like these are the first difficult times America’s been through. We had the Civil War. You know, America has 250 years of being grounded in democracy, and I don’t think that’s gonna change.”
He concluded, “I think we’re going through a very, very difficult period, but I tend to remain realistically optimistic that the country will pull out of it and something new will be born from it that is good.”
