If there is a third and final assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the world could look to Bruce Springsteen. The singer seems not to understand the potential effects that his ongoing anti-Trump commentary could have amongst his legions of zealous fans. He continues to portray Trump as a dangerous rogue who puts lives at risk, but the shoe is on the other foot. It is Springsteen who has gone rogue and is on the cusp of inciting violence.

Prior to the election last November, Springsteen spoke of Trump’s ‘disdain for the sanctity of the constitution, democracy and the rule of law’. He described Trump as ‘the most dangerous candidate for President in my lifetime’ and ‘an American tyrant’. Then, at his concert in Manchester last Wednesday, 14 May, he referred to Trump’s administration as ‘corrupt, incompetent and treasonous’. Trump responded, calling Springsteen out for playing US politics whilst in a foreign country, but Springsteen repeated the dose on Saturday 17 May, suggesting that stirring up anti-Trump sentiment is now a set piece in his concerts.

Springsteen’s descent into political activism came as a surprise to dedicated fans like myself. There was never any doubt that his personal politics would be left-leaning. He says in his autobiography that, during his childhood, politics was never discussed. Just once he remembers his mother saying, ‘We’re Democrats, they’re for the working people.’ This came to be reflected in his music which, whilst never overtly political, always gave voice to the disenfranchised.

But in 2004 he performed at campaign events for John Kerry. He did the same for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, for Hillary Clinton in 2016, for Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024. In 2021, meanwhile, he and Obama recorded a six-hour podcast. It opens with Obama bemoaning the fact that for the previous four years he had been ‘forced to endure a president diametrically opposed to all of my values’. It is a comment that set the tone for all that followed as he and Springsteen espoused socialist ideals and blamed Trump for advancing the notion of the success of the individual.

One of the problems with Springsteen is that he himself doesn’t seem to have any. Separating the art from the artist is normally necessary because of the foibles of the artist’s personal life but with Springsteen it’s the inverse. His music charts the breadth and depth of human failings whilst the artist is a person of unblemished character, immune to the scandals and lifestyle excesses normally associated with rock stars. He hinted at a vice of some kind in the documentary accompanying the release of his 2019 album, Western Stars, saying, ‘I’ve spent thirty-five years trying to learn how to let go of the destructive parts of my character’, but the world is none the wiser.

There have been a few controversies in his career. In the mid-1970s, he parted acrimoniously from Mike Appel, the manager who had launched his career. Appel has always been seen as the villain of the piece with little attention given to his own published version of events, authored by Marc Eliot. Up until 1980, almost every ‘girl’ mentioned in Springsteen’s lyrics is a ‘little girl’ – a writing habit that came to an abrupt end after he was admonished by the women’s movement. His song ‘41 Shots’, which tells of the police killing of African-American Amadou Diallo, drew anger from the police for its single perspective, and ‘Reno’ was condemned in religious quarters for its explicit lyrics. Then, for his tours that began in 2023, contrary to the socialist values he shares with Obama, he adopted Ticketmaster’s ‘dynamic pricing’ where prices are adjusted in real time in accordance with online demand and which saw tickets reach prices over US $5,500. This was enough for Springsteen’s original and best-known fan organisation, Backstreets, to pack up shop, citing a violation of ‘the implicit contract between Bruce Springsteen and his fans’, whilst Springsteen himself laughed it off. ‘If there’s any complaints on the way out, you can have your money back,’ he said, without detailing how to claim your refund.

But reverence for Springsteen continues its march through the institutions. Since 2014, McGill University in Montreal has published a bi-annual journal, BOSS, which ‘aims to secure a place for Springsteen Studies in the contemporary academy’. Australia’s Labor Treasurer between 2007 and 2013, Wayne Swan, had a picture of Springsteen on the wall which he looked to for inspiration whilst drafting fiscal policy. In the fourth estate, hard-nosed journalists go to water when it comes to Springsteen, writing obsequiously and sprinkling their articles with quotes from his lyrics. On social media, meanwhile, his fans have become warriors of faith. Say anything that does not fit the narrative and you do so at your own risk.

His appeal lies with what has been described as the ‘empathy’ he has for the characters in his songs. Character types we are invited to empathise with in this way include hitmen, murderers, suicide bombers, failed actors, brow-beaten lovers, clients of prostitutes, people speaking from their graves, refugees, cowboys, car thieves, death row prisoners, firefighters, factory workers, refinery workers, car wash workers, road workers, and out-of-workers. Springsteen only ever writes for ‘the little guy’ (or girl).

Springsteen in truth is the great appeaser. In the bigger-is-better 1980s, he built a burly, biceped body for himself and came into wider popularity with an alpha-male image, but, when agreeing with Obama that alpha-male traits have contributed to twenty-first century societal ills, he insisted that he had never actually been an alpha-male and expressed confusion as to why he had cultivated that archetype in the first place. His politics, too, were more honestly revealed in early 2021 when, to soften the ground ahead of the release of the podcast with Obama, he delivered a two-minute monologue to the television audience of the Superbowl. Disguised as a commercial for Jeep, it was a call for people to do away with their differences and meet with him in ‘the middle’. He wants me to amend my views so I can meet on his middle ground? He can ride off into his western stars sunset.