Springsteen Opts Not To ‘Keep His Mouth Shut,’ Doubles Down on Trump Brickbats in Second Night of European Tour

Bruce Springsteen is going to be doing shows in Europe for the next two months, and if the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s weekend performance in the United Kingdom was any indication, the singer has no intention of — as President Trump demanded of him — keeping his mouth shut for the duration. During the second of three sold-out shows at Manchester Saturday, Mr. Springsteen doubled down on his criticism of the current commander-in-chief despite being labeled a “dried out prune” who should “keep his mouth shut” by the president only hours before his show. Mr. Springsteen told the audience that America is “in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration.”Mr. Springsteen, a lifelong Democrat who is especially close with President Obama, campaigned for Vice President Harris last year. He has been publicly supporting Democratic candidates for nearly 40 years. “The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll in dangerous times!” Mr. Springsteen told the crowd at Manchester on Saturday night. “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, and has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration.”In between songs, Mr. Springsteen occasionally stopped to sit on the stairs and offer the crowd jeremiads about the dangers of the second Trump administration. “Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism, and let freedom ring,” the rock star said. “The last check on power after the checks and balances of government have failed are the people — you and me. It’s in the union of people around a common set of values,” he added. “Now, that’s all that stands between democracy and authoritarianism. So, at the end of the day, all we’ve really got is each other.”Last week, also at a Manchester show, the leader of the E Street Band cracked a joke about Mr. Trump being a dictator on par with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. “This is for our Dear Leader,” Mr. Springsteen said at a concert last week before playing one of his 2020 songs, “Rainmaker,” which includes the lyrics, “Rainmaker says white’s black and black’s white, says night’s day and day’s night, says close your eyes and go to sleep now. I’m in a burning field unloading buckshot into low clouds.”In response to the criticism, Mr. Trump called Mr. Springsteen a “dried out prune” who should not be speaking about American politics while abroad. “Sleepy Joe didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing, but Springsteen is ‘dumb as a rock,’ and couldn’t see what was going on, or could he (which is even worse!)? 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,” the president wrote. Despite the public broadsides, Mr. Springsteen continued to speak out over the weekend, specifically about deportation operations, the arrest of protesters, and the use of a Salvadoran terrorist confinement center to detain deportees. “There’s some very weird, strange, dangerous s— goin’ on out there right now,” Mr. Springsteen told the crowd as he took a seat on stage. “In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now. In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now,” he said. “They’re abandoning our great allies and siding 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 ended on a more optimistic note, saying that his country will move beyond the current political moment. “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 rock star said.Mr. Trump doesn’t seem inclined to let bygones be bygones, either. In an early morning post on Truth Social Monday, the president said: “HOW MUCH DID KAMALA HARRIS PAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FOR HIS POOR PERFORMANCE DURING HER CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT? WHY DID HE ACCEPT THAT MONEY IF HE IS SUCH A FAN OF HERS? ISN’T THAT A MAJOR AND ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION?”“I am going to call for a major investigation into this matter,” he added.Mr. Springsteen is scheduled to perform one more show in Manchester on Tuesday before heading to France for shows in Lille and Marseilles. Over the course of the next several weeks, he has shows scheduled in Germany, Spain, and Italy, among others.

Springsteen Opts Not To ‘Keep His Mouth Shut,’ Doubles Down on Trump Brickbats in Second Night of European Tour

More from the New York Sun

Could the Supreme Court’s Tariff Decision Be Applied to the Fed?

American Skier Hunter Hess Says Trump Post Led to ‘Two Hardest Weeks’ of His Life

A Haunting Study of Five Remarkable Black Men Who Soared Despite Societal Challenges

More from the New York Sun

Could the Supreme Court’s Tariff Decision Be Applied to the Fed?

American Skier Hunter Hess Says Trump Post Led to ‘Two Hardest Weeks’ of His Life

A Haunting Study of Five Remarkable Black Men Who Soared Despite Societal Challenges

Revisiting the Australian Film Debut of a Marvel Director

Supreme Court Hands Trump Major Defeat With a Six to Three Decision Striking Down His Global Tariffs

Veterans Sue To Stop Trump’s 250-Foot Triumphal Arch, Saying It Would ‘Dishonor’ Their Military Service

MAHA Movement Stunned by Trump Order Shielding Pesticide Makers From Lawsuits

‘How To Make a Killing’ is Dead on Arrival