Bruce Springsteen, photo by Andrew Wolff

On Tuesday, Bruce Springsteen launched his Land of Hope and Dreams tour from Minneapolis’ Target Center with an urgent and impactful performance, featuring songs carefully selected to meet the moment and extended reflections on the political context that brought him back to the stage. After Springsteen and Trump traded threats and criticism over social media during his European tour of the same name last year, there was some expectation that the President would comment on the current run at some point. This morning, in the wake of his last night’s address on the war in Iran and its economic fallout, he responded predictably. That was quick.

“Bad, and very boring singer, Bruce Springsteen, who looks like a dried up prune who has suffered greatly from the work of a really bad plastic surgeon, has long had a horrible and incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, sometimes referred to as TDS,” Trump wrote on social media. “The guy is a total loser who spews hate against a President who won a Landslide Election, including the popular vote, all Seven Swing States, and 86% of the Counties across America. Under Sleepy Joe and the Dems, our Country was DEAD, and now we have the ‘hottest’ Country, by far, anywhere in the World. MAGA SHOULD BOYCOTT HIS OVERPRICED CONCERTS, WHICH SUCK. SAVE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY. AMERICA IS BACK!!!”

Trump’s comments recall last year’s tirade, which similarly riffed on how “his skin is all atrophied” and commanded Springsteen to “KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country… Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!” Before embarking on this year’s US follow-up, Springsteen promised that the spirit of the tour would match the spirit of the time, directly confronting political and social crises rather than just distracting from them. “We will be rocking your town in celebration and in defense of America – American democracy, American freedom, our American Constitution and our sacred American dream, all of which are under attack by our wannabe king and his rogue government in Washington, D.C.,” he said.

Springsteen has not responded to Trump’s post, though he did preemptively share his stance on the tour’s potential for conflict with the President and his supporters in an interview with the Minnesota Star Tribune. “I don’t worry about it,” Springsteen said. “My job is very simple: I do what I want to do, I say what I want to say and then people get to say what they want to say about it. Those are the rules of my game. That’s fine with me. I don’t worry about if you’re going to lose this part of your audience. I’ve always had a feeling about the position we play culturally, and I’m still deeply committed to that idea of the band. The blowback is just part of it. I’m ready for all that.”

Trump’s “OVERPRICED CONCERTS” comment is of note, given that he reportedly encouraged the Department of Justice to quickly settle Live Nation’s antitrust trial under favorable terms for the live entertainment giant. Read more about that ongoing case here.