Bruce Springsteen described [1] himself as a “patriot” for criticizing President Donald Trump during a recent interview.
Speaking with PBS NewsHour, the musician said his approach reflects what he called “critical patriotism.”
When asked about his past comments that loving one’s country means telling the truth about it, Springsteen expanded on his philosophy.
He answered, “I believe in critical patriotism,” before elaborating on what the phrase means to him.
The “Born In the U.S.A.” and “Dancing in the Dark” performer said he sees patriotism as the willingness to confront the nation’s shortcomings while striving to improve it. “I believe that’s the definition of a patriot, you know?” he stated.
He continued by saying that a true patriot “loves [their] country so much” that they want to “recognize its faults, encourage it to be a better place, and believe that you carry in your heart the country that is waiting.”
In the PBS special titled *Bruce Springsteen: Finding America in Song, the 76-year-old artist also addressed his latest protest track, “Streets of Minneapolis.”
He said he wrote the song after the fatal shootings of ICE agitators Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Springsteen explained that anger motivated him to write the song quickly, as he wanted to express strong emotions about the events.
“I was very angry,” he said, describing how his creativity often stems from frustration over national issues.
He noted that while his music frequently contains political undertones, it is not always directly political.
“Usually, I write songs that have a lot of political implications, but very often are not directly political,” he said.
This time, however, he made an exception.
The singer said he was encouraged to take a more forceful tone by his friend Tom Morello, the guitarist from Rage Against the Machine.
Springsteen recalled Morello’s advice plainly: “You gotta kick ’em in the teeth.”
That call for bluntness influenced the way Springsteen shaped the song.
Reflecting on that creative exchange, Springsteen said, “In this case, I wrote a protest song. I thought, ‘Gee, maybe this is a little broad,’ you know?” But Morello’s response pushed him to release it as a bold statement.
He remembered Morello insisting that “nuance is great, but sometimes you gotta kick ’em in the teeth.”
Springsteen said that was the confirmation he needed to lean fully into the protest message.
“It was a song written for a moment,” he concluded.
The musician described writing, recording, and releasing the track in just three days, adding that it felt like “a song of its times.”
WATCH:
Springsteen recently completed his anti-Trump “Land of Hope and Dreams American” tour, which featured his political commentary alongside his music.
The artist presented his ideas of patriotism through both his songs and statements.
For Springsteen, patriotism involves confronting the realities of what America is while imagining what it could become.