Bruce Springsteen Questions Donald Trump’s Competency on ‘WTF’
Bruce Springsteen discussed Donald Trump‘s impending presidency and questioned whether the mogul had the competency and experience to hold the title of commander in chief in his hour-long WTF conversation with Marc Maron.
“I’ve felt disgust before, but never the kind of fear that you feel now,” Springsteen said of the coming Trump administration.
“It’s as simple as the fear of, is someone simply competent enough to do this particular job? Forget about where they are ideologically. Do they simply have the pure competence to be put in the position of such responsibility?”
Springsteen admitted he understood why Trump won: Many Americans, like the characters who populate Springsteen’s music, were “effected deeply by deindustrialization and globalization and the technological advances and you have been left behind, and someone comes along and says ‘I’m gonna bring the jobs back,'” as well Trump’s promises to combat against terrorism with Islamophobia and illegal immigration by building a wall.
“These are very powerful and simple ideas. They’re lies, they can’t occur. But if you’ve struggled for the past 30 or 40 years – and this has been the theme of much of my creative life for all those years – if someone comes along and offers you something else… it’s a compelling choice,” Springsteen said.
Springsteen, who previously called Trump a “flagrant, toxic narcissist” and campaigned on behalf of Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, said his biggest concern about the Trump presidency is if “worst aspects that he appealed to comes to fruition.”
“When you let that genie out of the bottle — bigotry, racism, intolerance… they don’t go back in the bottle that easily if they go back in at all,” Springsteen said. “Whether it’s a rise in hate crimes, people feeling they have license to speak and behave in ways that previously were considered un-American and are un-American. That’s what he’s appealing to. My fears are that those things find a place in ordinary, civil society.”
On a more positive note, Springsteen added, “America is still America. I still believe in its ideals, and I’m going to do my best to play my very, very small part in maintaining those things.”
Today is @springsteen day on https://t.co/KBRiPQLutw! I returned to Jersey to talk to the Boss! Great guy. Great talk! Do it up! pic.twitter.com/gLTxPsJK06
— WTF with Marc Maron (@WTFpod) January 2, 2017