It's what we've come to expect from Bruce Springsteen. Since the 1980s, he's never failed to endorse a Democrat candidate—and simultaneously attack Republican candidates as threats to the American way of life, from his early 1980s ramblings about President Ronald Reagan to his critiques of Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump.
Which is why it came as no surprise to millions of fans to watch the video of Springsteen's endorsement of Kamala Harris last week. Clothed in a working man's plaid shirt and speaking from the counter of a diner owned by Hollywood pal (and fellow Trump critic) Robert De Niro in Freehold, New Jersey, "the Boss" let the world know why the current Republican candidate was unworthy of his support.
"Donald Trump is the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime," Springsteen said. "He doesn't understand the meaning of this country, its history or what it means to be deeply American."
It turns out the majority of Springsteen's neighbors—in the New Jersey county in which he was born and still lives—disagree. At least they did in 2020. Monmouth County, which lies an hour south of the bluer counties closer to New York City and is filled with both small beach towns and working-class and wealthy enclaves, went for Trump over Joe Biden, 50.7 percent to 47.9 percent. If you drill a bit deeper, residents in Springsteen's current hometown of Colts Neck voted in favor of Trump nearly 2-to-1. Residents in the more working-class area of his hometown—Freehold and Freehold Township—also favored Trump in 2020, though by slimmer margins.
Go figure. The man who wrote "My Hometown" doesn't agree with, let alone understand, why so many neighbors of his in New Jersey have chosen to vote for a man—and a party—he so deplores.
But it's not just his hometown voters Springsteen doesn't seem to understand. The very factory workers he's written about for so long in songs like "Factory," "Mansion on the Hill" and "Youngstown" are turning out en masse for Trump too. Indeed, in Springsteen's most iconic song, "Born in the U.S.A.," the Vietnam vet narrator returns to his old job at the refinery only to hear these words from the hiring man: "Son, if it were up to me."
Has Springsteen talked to refinery workers and oil and gas workers across the country—quintessential American blue-collar jobs, and high-paying ones—and asked what they think of Harris given her long-standing antipathy to fossil fuels and gas-powered cars? They would tell him it is she who is the dangerous candidate when it comes to their way of life—and livelihoods. And to our national security, which millions of Americans believe is at stake when it comes to our nation's energy production.
"I'd say 80 percent to 90 percent of [United Steelworkers] oil workers will vote for Trump," a Texas union leader, who asked not to be identified by name to maintain relationships within the union, told Reuters in a recent story. There are nearly 11 million jobs tied to American energy production. Has Springsteen taken those lives into account?
And what about those steel towns Springsteen loves to write and sing about, in Ohio and Pennsylvania? And auto plant towns in places like Michigan and Ohio. Boston's public radio station WBUR, not exactly a mouthpiece for the GOP, reported back in 2020 about Biden's troubles with union workers in the region and the chasm between leadership and the workers.
Here's WBUR's reporting:
"Union workers on the ground are fiercely divided over which candidate to support in November," says Tim Petrowski, president of USW Local 1900 in South Lyon, Michigan, who says he's voting for Biden. His union management tends to support Democratic candidates, as they have historically, he says, but "it's a shop divided" among the rank and file.
The storytelling was just getting started.
"Twenty years ago, this place would have been 95% Democrats, and now it's really split," he says. "I'd probably have to say something like 60-40 Republican over Democrat now."
Those numbers reflect a seismic shift in party affiliation that's been happening among working-class Americans even before the rise of Trump. WBUR's reporting shifted to Ohio.
Zach Menke, a member of the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council, and a pipe fitter who works at the Husky refinery in Lima, Ohio, agrees that his coworkers have grown more divided. "[Trump's] supported and shown support for a lot of what we do in the oil field and construction and manufacturing," Menke says. "And I look at some of the things that Biden and some of these other Democrat politicians support, and it directly affects our work. They may be pro-union per se, but I don't feel that there's many of them that are pro the work that we do a lot out here."
Why isn't Bruce Springsteen writing songs about that? Does he not care about the impact of the Biden-Harris policies on the lives of these men and women? And their families? Does he not know about this remarkable shift in working-class sentiment over the past 20 years, or about the split between union workers and their union management? He's written dozens of songs about ordinary workers, but I don't recall one chronicling the woes of union bosses. Where's his common touch? Or, to quote a title from one of my Springsteen favorites, his "Human Touch"?
Maybe Springsteen should spend some time in Luzerne County in northeast Pennsylvania. It was once a coal mining region in the early 20th century but lost population when the local factories and mines closed. Towns like Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Nanticoke and Pittston call Luzerne County home.
The county recently turned red after a nearly 50-year run as a Democrat stronghold, according to the local PBS/NPR station. "The last time Luzerne County had more Republicans than Democrats for a presidential election was November 5, 1968," WVIA reported.
The Democratic majority in Luzerne County peaked in 2009, with 113,000 registered Democrats to a mere 51,000 Republicans—over 2-to-1. The arrival of Trump sharply reversed that number.
"By November 2015, the Democrats' edge had slipped to 44,655," WVIA reported. "The shift gathered steam, with the Democrats holding a lead of just 19,992 on Election Day 2020. Four years later, that lead has been completely erased."
Did the people of Luzerne County change? Or the two major parties? Were the voters in Luzerne smarter over the past 50 years when they voted Democratic? Or did they suddenly lose their intelligence because of Trump? Or is there something deeper and more profound happening in Luzerne—and across America—that's worth understanding?
I won't hold my breath waiting for Springsteen to change his mind about his politics. But perhaps he could tone down his dire talk about the GOP, which has been a nearly 40-year harangue, and tone down his talk about Trump being dangerous and un-American. Because what Springsteen doesn't understand is that he's calling nearly half of his fans the very same things. Or he's calling them just plain stupid—which might be even worse.