Bruce Springsteen has spoken out against the White House again after President Donald Trump called him a “dried-out prune” on social media.
Speaking in Manchester, England, the musician criticized the government for the second time during his Land of Hopes and Dreams tour, despite Trump previously biting back.
Why It Matters
Springsteen is an influential figure who has released 21 studio albums over the past few decades. The 75-year-old musician has previously endorsed Democratic candidates including former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden and ahead of the 2024 presidential election described Trump as the “most dangerous candidate for president” in his lifetime.
Tensions between Springsteen and Trump started when the rocker denounced the administration in the opening remarks of his tour in Manchester on Wednesday night, resulting in the president lashing out in response.
Photo by Shirlaine Forrest/Getty Images
What To Know
“Tonight we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voice against authoritarianism and let freedom ring,” Springsteen said on Wednesday.
He also referenced Trump’s deportations and said America was “persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent.”
He said Trump was “an unfit president” who was in charge of “a rogue government” that was “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous.”
In response, Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social and called Springsteen “a pushy, obnoxious JERK” and a “dried-out ‘prune’ of a rocker.”
Springsteen spoke out again after Trump’s social media post, saying that events in America “are altering the very nature of our country’s democracy.”
“In my home, they’re persecuting people for their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. That’s happening now,” Springsteen said. “In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. That’s happening now. In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers.”
He added that authorities were “removing residents off American streets without due process” and that elected officials had “utterly failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government.”
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump on Truth Social: “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, that’s just ‘standard fare.’ Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”
Republican California Governor candidate Steve Hilton wrote on X: “I may not have been ‘born in the USA’ like Bruce Springsteen, but I moved here and became an American by choice. So I’m disgusted to see him running around England criticizing our country. Maybe he should stay there!”
What Happens Next
Springsteen’s tour is scheduled to run until July and will see him play 16 shows across six European countries.
