Here's to BOTUS
That's Boss of the United States
We live in a world, or at least a country, where Donald Trump feels entitled to do anything he pleases. Those who may oppose him, for whatever reason, either keep their reservations to themselves or—far worse, in my opinion—go along, in the hope of currying favor with him. Marco Rubio, JD Vance, Lindsey Graham, and others have been critical of him at one time or another before “bending the knee” in the hope of somehow living with themselves and the choices they have made.
So when Bruce Springsteen, who has made his political views known for many, many years, made some sharply critical remarks about Donald Trump before a concert in Manchester, England earlier this month, it got a lot of attention. But anyone who was surprised at Springsteen’s disapproval of Trump and his policies missed his initial criticisms back in 2016 (even if Bruce was wrong in his prediction Trump was going to lose that time).
I made a TikTok about Springsteen in the wake of his comments, and was flabbergasted by how much vitriol was directed both at him and at me. Many of the critical comments come from accounts with few actual followers, or long generic “user145867453275” type names, suggesting they are bot accounts or keyboard warriors who are unwilling to put their own identities into the public realm.
These accounts are easily blocked (if only we could effectively block such people in real life), but the comments all fall into easily predictable groupings. One group claims that Springsteen has no talent and/or is washed up, which is plainly false because he sells out every show that he plays, well into his 70s. A second group claims he only has “one good song” even if they never explain what that song is. I have a suspicion they either can’t name any of his songs in the first place or, even if they could, his “one good song” probably varies from person to person. My guess is there are dozens of songs which he has written that many other performers wish they could write. But just “one good song”? No way.
The third group is maybe the most laughable one of all. People have routinely suggested that Bruce Springsteen is somehow “anti-American” or even a “traitor” because he recognizes Donald Trump for what he really is. And the people who refuse to acknowledge what Bruce Springsteen and so many others can see about this duplicitous and self-serving president lash out at those who will not lower themselves to this level.
Trump, as we would expect, has lashed back at Springsteen, warning him to “KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT” (the all-caps thing is his pathology, not mine). This is the bully Trump, using threats to cower his opponents into submission. But Bruce, who’s known as “The Boss” for a reason, isn’t about to be ordered around like that, either.
As only someone with decades of experience in the record business could do, Bruce took two of his anti-Trump statements (both are forceful and direct, but neither one could be called “histrionic” in any way) and packaged them with the songs they introduced and a couple other relevant tunes and released them as an EP online. While I prefer the original live version of “Land of Hope and Dreams” that I first heard on the Essential compilation from 2003, the stakes for this version are so much higher, and I’ll gladly throw in a few dollars to support the cause.
Bruce doesn’t need the money, not after the sale of his back catalog for a very large sum of money a few years ago. Some of my TikTok commenters, who likely fawn all over the “self-made” success stories of Trump and Elon Musk, don’t seem to hold Bruce Springsteen in the same high regard. Funny how that is! But this was nothing more than a de minimus warm up to the main event of 82 new songs and seven new albums worth of material coming down the road in a little bit more than one month’s time.
Bullies can sometimes get their way with nothing more than threatening language or even just implied threats. By tweeting out an image of a golf ball drive being made to look like it was knocking down Bruce Springsteen onstage, Trump is making such an implied threat. It’s childish and silly, but there’s an undertone of violence that can’t be ignored, either.
What’s clear is that Bruce Springsteen—who once wrote the words “No retreat, baby, no surrender”—isn’t going to roll over or bend a knee in the face of Donald Trump’s ominous threats. If that isn’t a true Boss move, I’m not sure what else it could be.