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Hindustan Times

Bruce Springsteen takes on Donald Trump's 'rogue government' on opening night of European tour: 'An unfit president'

On Wednesday May 14, famed singer Bruce Springsteen kickstarted his European Land of Hope and Tours dream, the first night being hosted in Manchester, England. And while the music and the energy were of course the focus, everyone will only remember the night for Bruce being a hundred-percent true to himself and voicing his unbridled opinions on USA's "rogue government" and the "unfit president" running it. Bruce began his impromptu address by highlighting the socio-economic and political turmoil the United States was phasing itself through. He said, "In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world's poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now", adding, '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 led to a more just and plural society. They are abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their are removing residents off American streets and, without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centres and prisons. This is all happening now'. The next bit of his impassioned speech however, is where things got aggressively direct. Bruce may not have named Trump verbatim, but he made it very, very clear about who his ire was really directed at. He articulated, "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". But all hope's not lost. At least for Bruce. Referencing his own body of work, the singer concluded on a positive note: "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", he said.