A rock legend showed us how to fight Trump — and it's working: analyst
An analyst says a rock legend handed us a roadmap to fighting Donald Trump.Bruce Springsteen's current tour isn't just a concert — it's a masterclass in resistance, and other celebrities should be taking notes, according to a labor journalist who attended one of the Boss's recent shows.Writing in the Guardian, Steven Greenhouse argues that Springsteen has cracked the code that has eluded so many of Trump's celebrity critics: how to speak out powerfully without alienating, lecturing, or losing your audience."He talks to people," Greenhouse writes. "He doesn't talk at them or down to them or lecture them. He voices common concerns, he rallies, he inspires."Greenhouse attended Springsteen's recent show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, which he describes as "far more than a fabulous, joyous concert" — calling it "an inspiring resistance event." From the opening moments, Springsteen made his intentions clear, telling the crowd that the E Street Band was there "in celebration and defense of the American ideals and values that have sustained our country for 250 years."What followed was three hours of pointed, thunderous anti-Trump messaging woven through classic rock and roll. Springsteen called Trump "a reckless, racist, incompetent, treasonous president and his ship of fools administration." He led the crowd in a rendition of Edwin Starr's "War (What Is It Good For?)" — a barely veiled reference to Trump's conflict with Iran — before launching into "Born in the USA."He also tackled Trump's efforts to rewrite history, telling the crowd: "Our museums are being told to whitewash American history of any unpleasant or inconvenient facts, like the full history of the brutality of slavery. You want to talk about snowflakes? We have a president who can't handle the truth."Central to Springsteen's current tour is "The Streets of Minneapolis," a new song about Trump's deployment of federal agents to the city, written in honor of Renée Good and Alex Pretti — two people killed during ICE operations. At the end of the song, Springsteen led the arena in a chant of "ICE out now!" as photos of Good and Pretti appeared behind the stage.At the No Kings rally in St. Paul in March, Springsteen invoked Good's final words to the agent who would take her life: "That's fine, dude, I'm not mad at you. I'm not mad." He called on the crowd to "find a way to take aggressive, peaceful action to defend our country's ideals" — echoing John Lewis's famous call to "get into some good trouble."Greenhouse argues that Springsteen's effectiveness comes from a credibility built over decades of championing the working class — the same voters Trump has cynically courted while delivering for billionaires. He also has something most celebrities lack: independence. With hundreds of thousands of fans willing to pay $100 or more to see him, Springsteen answers to no corporate overlords.That freedom stands in contrast to Stephen Colbert, whose outspoken Trump criticism Greenhouse suggests may have contributed to the cancellation of his show. Springsteen, he notes, faces no such constraints — only death threats, which have reportedly increased as the tour has progressed.Trump has responded to Springsteen in characteristic fashion, calling him a "total loser," a "dried-up prune," and "not a talented guy." Springsteen has not appeared deterred."So many of our elected leaders have failed us that this American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people — by you," Springsteen told the Brooklyn crowd. "So join us and let's fight for the America that we love."Greenhouse closes with a call for more of the same — and a wish that Springsteen would take his resistance show outdoors, to free concerts that could draw hundreds of thousands."Springsteen is an unarguable leader of the resistance," he writes. "The nation could use more like him."
