Bruce Springsteen told concertgoers what he thought of U.S. President Donald Trump during a show in the U.K. earlier this week, revealing to the crowd during a tirade of scathing remarks that he believed the man in the Oval Office was “unfit” for his role.
The legendary artist, revered for his socially conscious lyricism and ability to reflect a quintessentially American experience through music, said Trump’s America no longer represents the place he sings about, he told the audience.
While introducing his and the E Street Band’s song Land of Hopes and Dreams, after which his current tour is named, the 75-year-old Springsteen said, “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.”
“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,” he continued.
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Springsteen’s criticisms continued as the evening progressed.
Before playing House of a Thousand Guitars, he 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 now that’s all that stands between a democracy and authoritarianism. So at the end of the day, all we’ve got is each other.”
Before performing My City of Ruins, he delivered a longer monologue:
“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.
He laid into the Trump administration for inflicting pain on “loyal” American workers, trampling over entrenched civil rights and making enemies of storied allies while shaking hands with dictators.
“They are abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom. They are defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideological demands,” he said to a packed auditorium.
He also rebuked Trump for his removal of foreign nationals and general disregard for the law, and called on elected representatives to do more to halt the president’s agenda.
“They are removing residents off American streets and, without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centres and prisons. This is all happening now,” the musician said.
“A majority of our elected representatives have failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government. They have no concern or idea of what it means to be deeply American,” he went on, before hearkening back to the America he once sang of, saying that country was “real” but not without fault.
“We’ll survive this moment,” he said.
“Now, I have hope, because I believe in the truth of what the great American writer James Baldwin said. He said, ‘In this world, there isn’t as much humanity as one would like, but there’s enough.’ Let’s pray.”
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