Bruce Springsteen used a New Jersey stage to launch a profanity-laced political broadside against President Donald Trump and federal immigration enforcement, underscoring how many aging entertainers now substitute activism for artistry.
According to Gateway Pundit, the 74-year-old rocker paused his Saturday night performance at the Light of Day festival to dedicate a song to the memory of the mother of three and American citizen Renee Good, who was killed after allegedly attempting to run over an ICE agent while obstructing law-enforcement operations in Minneapolis.
Springsteen framed his remarks as a moral crusade, telling the crowd, So as we gather tonight in this beautiful display of love and care and thoughtfulness and community. If you believe in democracy, in liberty. If you believe that truth still matters, and that its worth speaking out, and its worth fighting for. If you believe in the power of the law and that no one stands above it.
He escalated his rhetoric by likening federal officers to secret police, declaring, If you stand against heavily armed masked federal troops invading American cities, and using Gestapo tactics against our fellow citizens. The musician then invoked the language of protest politics, adding, If you believe you dont deserve to be murdered for exercising your American right to protest then send a message to this President.
Springsteen went further, quoting local leadership and endorsing the expulsion of federal immigration authorities, saying, As the mayor of that city has said, ICE should get the fuck out of Minneapolis. He closed his dedication with, So this one is for you, and the memory of the mother of three and American citizen Renee Good, turning a complex law-enforcement incident into a rallying cry against border security and deportation.
His hostility toward President Trump is not new; in a June interview with the New York Times, Springsteen labeled Trumps presidency an American tragedy. He blamed economic dislocation for the Presidents rise, saying, I think that it was the combination of the deindustrialization of the country and then the incredible increase in wealth disparity that left so many people behind. It was ripe for a demagogue.
Springsteen added a personal insult, remarking, And while I cant believe it was this moron that came along, he fit the bill for some people. Yet while he lectures working-class Americans on politics, his own cultural influence appears to be waning, as a movie about Springsteens life turned out to be a box office dud and lost money against its $55 million budget, suggesting that audiences may be tiring of celebrity activism dressed up as moral authority.
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