Donald Trump fired back at rocker Bruce Springsteen on Friday, using his familiar approach to dealing with people he doesn’t like — hurling insults on social media and going after their physical appearance.
The president of the United States, upset with being name-dropped and criticized by the rock and roll icon at one of his recent concerts, 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,” before zeroing in on his appearance.
“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 consequences when he returns to U.S. soil.
“Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”
Trump’s issue 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 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 told the crowd in Manchester, England.
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He didn’t stop there; throughout the night, he sprinkled the show with criticism of Trump and his administration.
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.
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band perform during the first night of his ‘The Land of Hopes and Dreams’ tour at Co-op Live on May 14, 2025 in Manchester, England.
Shirlaine Forrest / Getty Images
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He drilled down on his issues with Trump’s administration 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.
Springsteen has long been close friends with Barack and Michelle Obama, after forming close ties during Obama’s first presidential campaign in 2008.
As USA Today notes, Trump invoked the Born in the U.S.A. singer’s name at a campaign rally in Springsteen’s home state of New Jersey last year.
“I love these Saturday evenings. Is there anything better than a Trump rally?” Trump said from the stage at 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 only musician to spark ire from Trump on Friday; he also attempted to resurrect his feud with Taylor Swift, going after the billionaire pop star in a Truth Social post just minutes before his Springsteen missive.
“Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’” Trump wrote.
— With files from Global News’ Rachel Goodman
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