Trump says Springsteen should ‘keep his mouth shut’

Comment comes after singer criticizes him

Bruce Springsteen told the crowd in Manchester, England, that “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 of what it means to be deeply American. President Donald Trump called Springsteen “dumb as a rock.” ROB GRABOWSKI/INVISION VIA AP/FILE

President Donald Trump said Bruce Springsteen should “KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT” after the rock performer criticized his administration to open a tour.

“I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States,” Trump began a Friday post on social media platform Truth Social.

“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,’ ” the president added.

Springsteen began the tour he and the E Street Band launched in Manchester, England, on Wednesday by delivering remarks on the Trump administration. The overseas tour ends on July 3 in Milan.

There have been no dates scheduled in the U.S. this year.

“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,” Springsteen said on opening night in Manchester.

The performer said “the richest men” are deporting residents of American streets without due process and are taking satisfaction in abandoning the poorest children of the world, leaving them for sicknesses and death.

The same men take “sadistic pleasure” in pain they inflict on American workers, Springsteen said. Further, the performer added, the men are defunding universities that won’t “bow down” to “ideological demands,” rolling back civil rights legislation, abandoning great allies and siding with dictators against people struggling for “freedom.”

People are also being persecuted for dissenting and expressing their right to free speech, according to Springsteen.

“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 of what it means to be deeply American,” the performer said.

Trump called Springsteen “dumb as a rock.”

“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, a mentally incompetent FOOL, and our WORST EVER President, who came close to destroying our Country,” the president wrote. “If I wasn’t elected, it would have been GONE by now!”

Springsteen has expressed support for former President Joe Biden, notably during the 2020 election season. He campaigned for the Democrat that year by appearing in advertisements and publishing social media posts in support of Biden.

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