Donald Trump fired again at rocker Bruce Springsteen on Friday, utilizing his acquainted method to coping with folks he doesn’t like — hurling insults on social media and going after their bodily look.
The president of the United States, upset with being name-dropped and criticized by the rock and roll icon at one in every of his current concert events, bashed The Boss as “Highly Overrated” and “not a talented guy.”
“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.”
He went on to accuse Springsteen of being a “pushy, obnoxious JERK” and “dumb as a rock,” earlier than zeroing in on his look.
“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, seeming to threaten Springsteen with penalties when he returns to U.S. soil.
“Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”
Trump’s problem with Springsteen stems from earlier this week, after the artist issued some scathing remarks for the president, saying he believes Trump is “unfit” for the Oval Office.
While introducing his and the E Street Band’s music Land of Hopes and Dreams, after which his present tour is known as, the 75-year-old Springsteen mentioned, “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 informed the group in Manchester, England.
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He didn’t cease there; all through the night time, he sprinkled the present with criticism of Trump and his administration.
Before enjoying House of a Thousand Guitars, he mentioned: “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 an extended 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 mentioned.
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band carry out throughout the first night time of his ‘The Land of Hopes and Dreams’ tour at Co-op Live on May 14, 2025 in Manchester, England.
Shirlaine Forrest / Getty Images
He drilled down on his points with Trump’s administration inflicting ache on “loyal” American employees, trampling over entrenched civil rights and making enemies of storied allies whereas shaking fingers 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 mentioned to a packed auditorium.
Springsteen has lengthy been shut mates with Barack and Michelle Obama, after forming shut ties throughout Obama’s first presidential marketing campaign in 2008.
As USA Today notes, Trump invoked the Born in the usA. singer’s title at a marketing campaign rally in Springsteen’s house state of New Jersey final yr.
“I love these Saturday evenings. Is there anything better than a Trump rally?” Trump mentioned from the stage on the time. “If some of these wackos came along, you know, these liberal singers, they’d actually vote for me. You know they’d all vote for me. You know, like Bruce Springsteen. We have a much bigger crowd than Bruce Springsteen. Right?”
Springsteen wasn’t the one musician to spark ire from Trump on Friday; he additionally tried to resurrect his feud with Taylor Swift, going after the billionaire pop star in a Truth Social publish simply minutes earlier than his Springsteen missive.
“Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’” Trump wrote.
— With information from Global News’ Rachel Goodman
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