Bruce Springsteen slams Trump for putting re-election bid ahead of COVID-19 crisis: 'It's a national disgrace'
Music legend Bruce Springsteen has criticized US President Donald Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking on his ‘From My Home to Yours’ series on US radio station SiriusXM, the singer-songwriter said: “With 100,000 plus Americans dying over the last few months and the empty, shamed response from our leaders, I’ve been simply pissed off. Those lives deserve better than being simply inconvenient statistics for our president’s reelection efforts. It’s a national disgrace.”
Springsteen continued, “Instead of celebrating the joys of summer today, we will be contemplating our current circumstances with the coronavirus and the cost it has drawn from our nation. We will be calculating what we’ve lost, sending prayers for the deceased and the families they have left behind.”
The 'Born in the USA' singer then addressed the president as he remarked: “So if you are ready for a rock & roll requiem, stay tuned. I’m going to start out by sending one to the man sitting behind the resolute desk. With all respect, sir, show some consideration and care for your countrymen and your country. Put on a f---ing mask." He then played Bob Dylan's "Disease of Conceit" from the album 'Oh Mercy'
During the show, Springsteen also read out the names of people who died from the deadly virus as he played mournful songs like Neil Young’s ‘When God Made Me’ and the Sensational Nightingales’ ‘Burying Ground’.
He added: “One of the most heartrending aspects of these deaths is that the virus has stolen from us our rituals, our funerals, our wakes, our house meetings with family after the burial. Our ability to stand by our loved ones, to touch them, to kiss them as they pass, to look into their eyes and let them physically know how we love them. This is the cruelty of this disease. To say our last goodbyes to our loved ones by phone and then to return home alone to an empty house. It is a heartbreaking and lonely death for those afflicted and for those left behind to pick up the pieces.”
Later on the Wednesday show, Springsteen played his own cover of Suicide’s ‘Dream Baby Dream’ as an elegy for those who could not survive the pandemic. He also acknowledged the bravery of health professionals during the crisis. “The footage from inside some of the ERs that we’ve seen should be enough to convince you to stay safe, behave responsibly and heed the warning of your medical professionals,” the artists said, adding: “The souls intubated, struggling for each breath, are a testament to the deadliness of this virus and to the bravery of our frontline doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals. Our healthcare professionals who willingly put themselves in harm’s way, risking their own lives for others deserve some special dispensation in heaven and here on earth. We owe them our eternal thanks.”
At the end of the show, Springsteen reminded his fans to vote in November elections as he stated: “The election is only months away. Vote. God help us all. Vote before it’s too late.”