Donald Trump labels Bruce Springsteen a “dried out ‘prune’” after Manchester gig speeches

Donald Trump has hit back at Bruce Springsteen after The Boss made multiple speeches criticising him at his show in Manchester earlier this week.

• READ MORE: Bruce Springsteen live in London: the heartland hero remains firmly at his majestic peak

During a show at Manchester’s Co-Op Live on Wednesday (May 14), Springsteen gave three separate speeches decrying the actions of the US president and his administration’s “corruption” and “incompetence”.

To kick off the show, The Boss performed ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’, saying to the audience: “It’s great to be in Manchester and back in the UK. Welcome to the Land of Hope and Dreams Tour! The mighty E St. Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ‘n roll in dangerous times.”

He continued: “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration. Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring!”

Before ‘House of a Thousand Guitars’, Springsteen preached: “The last check, the last check on power after the checks and balances of government have failed are the people, you and me. It’s in the union of people around a common set of values now that’s all that stands between a democracy and authoritarianism. At the end of the day, all we’ve got is each other.”

Springsteen’s third and final political statement for the night came as he introduced ‘City of Ruin’: “There’s some very weird, strange, and dangerous shit going on out there right now. In America they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now.

He went on: “In America the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now. In my country they’re 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. They are abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom. They are defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideological demands. They are removing residents off American streets and without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons. This is all happening now.

“A majority of our elected representatives have failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government. They have no concern or idea for what it means to be deeply American. The America l’ve sung to you about for 50 years is real and regardless of its faults is a great country with a great people. So we’ll survive this moment. Now, I have hope, because I believe in the truth of what the great American writer James Baldwin said, he said ‘in this world there isn’t as much humanity as one would like, but there’s enough.’ Let’s pray.”

Now, Trump has responded to Springsteen’s speeches with a post on Truth Social that was just as scathing.

The President wrote: “I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States. Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK.”

“This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just ‘standard fare.’ Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”

Before singing of his city of ruin, Bruce Springsteen preaches of what is happening back home. He pulls no punches in a harsh sermon. This is part one of two on May 14, 2025 in Manchester. Papa preach. pic.twitter.com/TIZwERP37S

— The Unspin Room (@UnspinRoom) May 14, 2025

Springsteen has long been a staunch critic of Donald Trump. He publicly endorsed Kamala Harris in November’s presidential election and performed at one of her rallies, and has described Trump as “mentally ill”.

In addition, he opened a show just after the election with a “fighting prayer” for the US following Donald Trump‘s victory.

Springsteen’s show in Manchester was the first night of a UK and European run that will last until July.

In other news, The Boss jammed alongside John Fogerty, Smokey Robinson, Jackson Browne, Tom Morello, Darlene Love and Nora Guthrie at an intimate event in his home state of New Jersey last month.

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