Springsteen vs Trump's America

The Boss Takes on the Gangster

We made a promise, we swore we'd always remember
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Blood brothers in the stormy night with a vow to defend
No retreat, baby, no surrender
– Bruce Springsteen

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Leave it to the Boss to stand up to tyranny.

This past week, he told the world that the United States, which has been "a beacon hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration. We ask all who believe in democracy and the best of the American experience to rise with us against authoritarianism and let freedom ring!"

Springsteen's comments threw the malignant criminal in the White House into a rage.

Trump's bile-filled attack on Springsteen ended with the thinly-veiled threat:

"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. Then we'll all see how it goes for him!"

The fact that Trump's White House would let loose with such a vile attack on an American hero says a great deal about how far the nation has slipped down the road toward tyranny.

Trump is not a strongman. He is an immature despot being enabled by those who should know better. But his minions are emboldened because the political, legal and cultural class of the United States have decided it is simply easier to go along with the disappearance of the rule of law.

Not Springsteen.

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I was 16 the first time I saw the Boss. His songs may have been about car mechanics, laid-off steelworkers and nighttime drag racers, but the songs were really about hope and promise. He presented a vision of a vast and sometimes troubled nation that always came together when things got hard.

From Chicago to New Orleans
From the muscle to the bone
From the shotgun shack to the Superdome
There ain't no help, the cavalry's stayed home
There ain't no-one hearing the bugle blown
We take care of our own
Wherever this flag's flown
We take care of our own

You couldn't get a more American export than Mr. Born in the USA and yet, Springsteen is treated like a hometown hero in every city and country where he performs. This is because Springsteen isn't just a rock superstar; he's a builder of community.

I remember being at a big bar on Bloor Street in Toronto one night when some guy stood on his table and belted out:

"The angels had a homecoming in Harlem late last night."

And as if on cue, the entire bar sang the next line:

"And the Magic Rat drove his sleek machine across the Jersey state line."

What followed was a mass acapella karaoke.

The highlight was when all manner of slightly tipsy Torontonians acted out their own personal performance of the last moments of the Rat.

In the quick of a knife, they reach for their moment
And try to make an honest stand
But they wind up wounded, not even dead
To… night… in… jun… gle… land.

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There is an America that the world hates — an America of arrogance and power overseeing vast inequality.

Trump has made this America his calling card.

In the first five months of his reign, he has trashed international alliances that took decades to build. His threats and attacks on democracy and decency have turned his country into a global pariah.

Canadian air travel to the United States has dropped by as much as 75%.

European visitors are also refusing to spend money in Trump's America.

International tourism is facing a $12.5 billion drop this year.

These are catastrophic impacts. A total repudiation of the man who claimed he would "Make America Great Again."

No wonder Trump is threatened by Springsteen, who remains one of the nation's most loved exports.

This is because Springsteen is heir to another America that exists in all of our minds regardless of what country we call home. It is an America of promise, that will always find a way to rise up against injustice. A country of opportunity, not just a playground for the oligarchs.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.

I had never seen that Golden Valley, but I didn't need to — Woody Guthrie made me feel as if I was there with him.

On this imagined landscape, I have watched Vandellas dancing on the hot summer streets of "Philadelphia, PA, Baltimore and D.C." I saw Dwight Yoakam and Buck Owens lose their way on the streets of Bakersfield.

And who has listened to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue and not imagined they were on some uptown New York Street on a rainy 1950s night?

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I’d like to think that when it comes to Trump, the Boss can stand up for himself.

But that's not what this is about.

If Trump can launch a deranged public slur on a beloved American folk hero, it's because he feels emboldened to go after anyone — especially those without power.

He had his gangster ICE teams kidnap students for participating in non-violent protests. Those threats have risen to arrests of judges and mayors.

The pressure is now turned on those who dare document or challenge the regime.

Hasan Piker, a prolific streamer, was detained at the airport in Chicago and subjected to hours of questioning by border police about his journalism. Speaking about the situation, Piker said:

"They straight up tried to get something out of me to detain me permanently.”

This is not the kind of thing that happens in a democracy. It is indicative of a state run by fascists and gangsters — even a very thin-skinned one.

Springsteen has power. He has a voice. He has spoken up.

Where are the others?

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Here's my take on a great Springsteen classic:

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