Vini Lopez, former drummer for Bruce Springsteen, is calling out the rock star for attacking President Donald J. Trump on his “Land of Hopes and Dreams Tour.” Lopez may have in mind statements by Springsteen such as:

This White House is destroying the American idea and our reputation around the world. To many, we are no longer looked upon as an often imperfect but strong defender of democracy standing for the global good. We are no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave. We are now, to many, America the reckless, unpredictable, predatory rogue nation. That is this administration’s and this president’s legacy. This is happening now.

That was part of a longer speech, much like something drafted by Obama’s narrator David Axelrod. Long before the “predatory rogue nation” charge, the “Born in the USA” rocker provided considerable evidence that he never supported the United States of America—at least not the one that actually exists.

On July 5, 1972, Springsteen played a benefit concert for the leftist Democrat Sen. George McGovern, an appeaser of the USSR and advocate of unilateral disarmament. In late September 1979, Springsteen joined other rock stars at the famous “No Nukes” concert at Madison Square Garden. On Nov. 4, 1979, Iran’s Islamic regime, headed by the Ayatollah Khomeini, invaded the US embassy in Tehran—an act of war—and held 52 Americans captive for 444 days. It’s hard to find any song or statement from Springsteen supporting the hostages or condemning the Islamic regime.

Exactly a year later, on Nov. 4, 1980, Ronald Reagan easily defeated Georgia Democrat Jimmy Carter. The next day, at a concert at Arizona State University, Springsteen told fans. “I don’t know what you guys think about what happened last night, but I think it’s pretty frightening.” Reagan called the Soviet Union an “evil empire,” and his view of the Cold War was “we win, they lose.” In 1984, referencing Springsteen’s “Born in the USA,” Reagan noted “the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire—New Jersey’s own, Bruce Springsteen.” Nevertheless, the rocker opposed the use of that song in Reagan’s reelection campaign, which makes perfect sense.

Springsteen’s political mentor is the “strumming Stalinist” Pete Seeger. During the Stalin-Hitler Pact, Seeger opposed American involvement against Nazi Germany. The Party line changed after June 1941, and again in 1945, when Stalin ended the wartime alliance through the Duclos Declaration. During the Vietnam War, Seeger revived the “peace” themes of the Pact, and all through the Cold War, the banjo Bolshevik was the USSR’s best friend.

“Pete cannot seem to get past his old loyalty to the communists,” noted Ron Radosh, who took banjo lessons from Seeger and knew the man well. “He’s never sung a song about the totalitarianism of the Soviets or the horrible oppression under Castro. But he’s quick to criticize the United States.”

In 1997, Springsteen signed on to do a tribute album for Pete Seeger. In 2004, Springsteen endorsed John Kerry for president. In 2006, “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions” was released, and Springsteen toured with the Seeger Sessions Band. By 2008, the rocker was all-in for Obama, who, according to “The Boss,” “speaks to the America I’ve envisioned in my music for the past 35 years.” But the strumming Stalinist whom the Illinois senator called “America’s tuning fork,” continued to inspire Springsteen.

On May 3,  2009, Springsteen performed at Seeger’s 90^th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden. The rocker called Seeger “a living archive of America’s music and conscience, a testament of the power of song and culture to nudge history along, to push American events towards more humane and justified ends” and “a stealth dagger through the heart of our country’s illusions about itself.”

On Jan. 18, 2009, two days before Obama’s first inauguration, Springsteen joined Pete Seeger at the Lincoln Memorial to sing “This Land Is Your Land.” The fundamental transformation of America was underway. One of that president’s first moves was to cancel missile defense for U.S. allies Poland and the Czech Republic. That was a gift to Russia, and POTUS44 also proved indulgent toward militant Islamists.

On Nov. 5, 2009, the jihadist Nidal Hasan, yelling “Allahu akbar” as he fired, gunned down 13 Americans, including three women, at Fort Hood. For President Obama, it was “workplace violence,” not terrorism or even “gun violence.” Bruce Springsteen held no concert to honor victims such as Pvt. Francheska Velez, shot dead with her unborn child, or Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford, who took seven bullets from the jihadist but somehow managed to survive. In 2014, President Obama declined to meet with Lunsford to discuss the victims’ plight. 

In 2011, POTUS44’s bombing campaign against Libya prompted no protest concert by Bruce Springsteen. In 2012, Springsteen and Seeger again performed “This Land is Your Land” to welcome Obama and Biden to the White House. After Seeger’s death in 2014, Springsteen said, “I lost a great friend and hero” and called Seeger “a very courageous freedom fighter.”

In 2016, Springsteen endorsed Hillary Clinton, a candidate he said was “on the right side of history.” In 2020, Springsteen endorsed Delaware Democrat Joe Biden, who was running, he said, “to give working people the shot they deserve: an honest living for honest work.” Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, with 13 Americans killed by a terrorist bomb, brought no public comment from Springsteen that journalists can find.

In 2024, Springsteen called Donald Trump “the most dangerous candidate in my lifetime.” The rocker supported Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, in his view, candidates “committed to a vision of this country that respects and includes everyone, regardless of class, religion, race, political point of view or sexual identity,” and so on. Bruce Springsteen is a Seeger, Clinton, and Obama groupie, but he does reveal another side.

The “Born in the USA” rocker, often perceived as a man of the people, is worth a cool $1.2 billion. America is a predatory rogue nation—except for Bruce Springsteen’s bank accounts, his biopic, his luxury homes and so forth. With his own hopes and dreams fulfilled, the tour continues.