“The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ‘n’ roll, in dangerous times,” Springsteen said during the performance that opened the band’s Land of Hope and Dreams Tour in Manchester, England. “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.”

After the speech went viral, Springsteen released it as a track with a collection of recordings from that performance. Trump turned to Truth Social to respond.

“I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States,” Trump posted. “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, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden.”

Once tied at 15 in their match, Springsteen volleyed at a subsequent Liverpool, England, concert by taunting his long-distance opponent with: “When conditions in a country are ripe for a demagogue, you can bet one will show up.”

The spat between egos pits a conservative president against a rock n’ roll hero of the American working class — a voting bloc with a MAGA element that helped put Trump over the top in 2024. Now, Springsteen’s right-leaning fans are faced with a dilemma. Do they continue listening to The Boss while he continues to attack their president?

Scott Gac is a professor of history and American studies at Trinity College. He suggested that Springsteen’s more MAGA fans shouldn’t be surprised that their beloved rock star aligns with the Left.

“Springsteen is renowned for capturing a working-class aesthetic shaped by the failures of American leadership, particularly in Vietnam, and the decline of manufacturing,” Gac said. “At the same time, he celebrates the dignity of labor and the everyday lives of factory workers and soldiers. His music consistently upholds the struggle and resilience of working people, even as it portrays an America where the promise of the American dream often remains out of reach.”

Springsteen expressed his politics in recent years by supporting former President Joe Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic nominee who lost to Trump. He also protested Trump’s use of his music at campaign events. However, Gac insisted that many of the performer’s lyrics are steeped in skepticism toward political leaders, union bosses, and employers.

Springsteen “never aligned himself with the rightward political turn of some of his working-class listeners,” Gac added. “His ongoing refusal to be claimed by the Republican Party presents an interesting cultural tension, especially in the Trump era. … It will be telling to see how these dynamics unfold in the arena of popular music.”

Jake Uitti writes about music and popular culture out of Seattle. He said every popular musical artist can face consequences when making public statements.

“Any choice risks alienating some portion of your fanbase, like Dylan going electric,” Uitti said. “But, if that is your biggest concern as a creative person, you end up following the way the wind blows as opposed to listening to your creative instincts.”

Uitti agreed with Gac that Springsteen long represented a working-class portion of the population, while the legend’s critics might say that he’s gone away from that more recently with his high concert ticket prices.

“I think, in his bones, [Springsteen] represents the little guy — especially from an eclectic sense,” Uitti said. “He cares about diversity and about people getting a fair shake. So, he speaks his mind through that lens. If that means losing fans, so be it. He’s also at the point in his career where he’s done just about everything and made a ton of money.”

In an ironic case of public interpretation clashing with an artist’s intent, Uitti pointed to a gulf between artist and fans as the latter often misunderstand the darker, post-Vietnam War messages behind Springsteen’s “Born in the USA.”

“I believe the song is patriotic, but it’s not blind patriotism,” he said. “It’s easy to argue that being critical of America is patriotic. Bruce wrote [‘Born in the USA’] because he loves his country — the same country that made him a multimillionaire and famous beyond his wildest dreams. Now he’s using that platform to speak his mind again, because, I believe, he loves the USA. People may not like to hear it because today, nuance is not popular.”

While Springsteen’s Trump-supporting buyers might be turned off by the rock star’s critique of the U.S., Uitti reminded them that their favorite president also has his issues with America.

“It strikes me that the MAGA folks tend to get mad at people who protest, but the MAGA leader seems to always be criticizing something about America,” Uitti said. “His whole umbrella motto is about how America isn’t great today. It’s a blanket protest in and of itself.”

While Springsteen, his staff, and his official fan club all failed to respond to requests for an interview, an invitation to members of his Reddit fan page brought this perspective from a user named “DogsOnMainstreetHowl.”

“Bruce fans are not Trump voters,” the user shared. “He already alienated those ‘fans’ when he called out Reagan, campaigned for John Kerry, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris.”

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Still, by sheer force of numbers and the law of averages, there must be MAGA supporters somewhere in Springsteen’s legions of fans. Regardless, the human behind the DogsOnMainstreetHowl tag sees Springsteen supporting a class of people instead of a purely leftist agenda.

“Bruce is an artist who has consistently stood for freedom his entire career,” the poster added. “You cannot pick up a single album written by him in the past 50 years that does not stand with the poor, the oppressed, the starving, the brokenhearted, the factory worker, the soldier, the marginalized, and the broken.”

John Scott Lewinski, MFA, is a writer based in Milwaukee.