Bruce Springsteen: ‘Trump doesn’t understand what it means to be American’

Artist was responding after Trump ‘trash-talked’ him at a campaign rally

Roisin O'Connor
Music Correspondent
Friday 25 October 2019 10:42 BST
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Bruce Springsteen says Donald Trump doesn't understand 'what it means to be American'

Bruce Springsteen has attacked Donald Trump after the US president “trash-talked” him in a rant about the lack of support he has received from celebrities.

Appearing at a campaign rally in Minneapolis earlier this month, Trump claimed he didn’t need the support of “little Bruce Springsteen”, naming other celebrities including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, who backed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential elections.

Trump attempted to name others but stumbled during his speech and mumbled “and… all of these” instead.

In a CBS interview, Springsteen has now expressed his disdain for Trump and condemned him for not understanding “the deep meaning of what it means to be American”.

CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King asked Springsteen: “So, he’s going back to 2016. And this is now 2019. Are you surprised that he’s trash-talking you after all this time?”

Springsteen laughed and responded: “Not really. Anything’s possible.”

“It’s just frightening, you know? We’re living in a frightening time,” he continued. “The stewardship of the nation has been thrown away to somebody who doesn’t have a clue as to what that means. And unfortunately, we have somebody who I feel doesn’t have a grasp of the deep meaning of what it means to be an American.”

Springsteen previously said Trump was “deeply damaged at his core” and condemned his stance on the Mexico-US border.

His new album, Western Stars, was released earlier this year to critical acclaim. A film of the same name that documents an intimate Springsteen performance is released this weekend.

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