Bruce Springsteen has criticised the US Democratic Party, saying the country is in need of an “effective alternative”.
During a new cover interview with TIME, the legendary singer-songwriter reflected on the current political climate in the US.
“We’re desperately in need of an effective alternative party, or for the Democratic Party to find someone who can speak to the majority of the nation,” he told the publication. “There is a problem with the language that they’re using and the way they’re trying to reach people.”
Springsteen then detailed the friction between the country’s history of economic challenges and the idea of the American dream. “Those conditions are ripe for a demagogue,” he said. “Those things have got to be addressed if we want to live in the America of our better angels. I still believe it’s there, but it’s struggling.”
He went on to discuss President Donald Trump, saying, “A lot of people bought into his lies.” However, he added that he doesn’t think people being misled is the entire reason for his success. “You have to face the fact that a good number of Americans are simply comfortable with his politics of power and dominance.”
Elsewhere in the interview, he called for Trump to be impeached, saying that he should be “consigned to the trash heap of history”.
Trump called The Boss “highly overrated” earlier this year, after the artist hit out at his administration’s “corruption” and “incompetence” during a show in Manchester. The POTUS also shared a meme depicting him hitting Springsteen with a golf ball.
In May, Springsteen included his anti-Trump speeches in Manchester on a new live EP titled ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’. The POTUS responded shortly afterwards, writing: “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.” He also called for a “major investigation” into the artist and other musicians who supported Kamala Harris.
Over the summer, The Boss slammed Trump’s “disgusting” ICE raids and immigration policies, calling the President a “moron”. He later said that Trump being in power again was an “American tragedy”.
“We’re living through a terrible moment in history, where Congress has neutered itself and the boundaries that once curtailed this type of leadership have disintegrated,” he explained at the time. “The pure incompetence of [the administration] may carry the seeds of its own destruction. But I don’t know what’s going to happen. I haven’t lived through a time like this in my entire life and I’m 75 years-old.”
Earlier this month, The Boss sat just feet away from Trump at the US Open.
In other news, next month will see Springsteen finally release the legendary electric version of ‘Nebraska’. He has already previewed the collection with a demo version of ‘Born In The U.S.A.’.