



The Bruce Springsteen-President Donald Trump back and forth continues.
The latest salvo is the rush release of “Land of Hope and Dreams,” a six-track EP issued on streaming services on Wednesday. It draws from the Boss’ European tour opening show with the E Street Band in Manchester, England, last week where he made headlines by calling the Trump administration “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous.”
The new live EP contains four songs in the gospel-fired title track, which envisions an America where “dreams will not thwarted” and “faith will be rewarded.” Another song, “Long Walk Home,” is introduced by Springsteen as “a prayer for my country.” The other two songs in the EP are “My City Of Ruins” and a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Chimes Of Freedom.”
The music, however, is not the most noteworthy part of the release. It’s the speechifying. “Land of Hope and Dreams” officially puts out into the world two song introductions which feature Springsteen labeling Trump “an unfit president” who leads “a rogue government.”
By commercially releasing his critiques, he seems intent of making it as easy as possible for Americans listeners to hear what he has to say.
In the three-and-half minute long “My City of Ruins” intro, Springsteen alleges that under the Trump administration “the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death” while “taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers.”
“They’re rolling back historic civil rights legislation that has led to a more just and plural society” he says, “removing residents off American streets and, without due process of law … deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons.”
News reports of Springsteen remarks in Manchester — which he has repeated during all three of his shows so far — angered Trump last week. On Truth Social, he called Springsteen “not a talented guy” and a “dried out “prune” of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!),” while warning “we’ll all see how it goes for him!”
Trump has yet to react to the commercial release of Springsteen’s anti-Trump rants, which are now easily accessible to subscribers to music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. But on Wednesday, the president did post a video on social media that was altered to make it appear like he knocked Springsteen down by hitting him with a golf ball.