Bruce Springsteen has slammed Donald Trump‘s so-called “anti-weaponisation fund”, calling it an “American outrage” while onstage recently.
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At a Washington DC concert on Wednesday night (May 27), the heartland rocker tore into the Justice Department’s recently announced plan to allocate nearly $1.8billion to those who have “suffered weaponisation and lawfare”.
Many of Trump’s detractors have speculated that the fund will likely be used by the insurrectionists who faced legal consequences for their part in the January 6 riots on Capitol Hill — some 1,600 of whom were pardoned by Trump on his first day back in office last year.
“We have a president who wants to create a $1.8billion fund to compensate and reward people who attacked our nation’s Capitol,” the Boss lamented between songs at Nationals Park stadium.
“[They] attacked our democracy. Assaulted our police officers on Jan 6. This is an American outrage, and this is happening now. This American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people,” he added, to applause.
“Let them hear you at the f***ing White House.”
Bruce Springsteen rages against President Trump and his administration during his latest Washington, DC show:
“This White House is destroying the American idea and our reputation around the world.”
“We are America, the reckless,… pic.twitter.com/qwGpBHqux7
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 29, 2026
“There is no one coming to save us. We’ve got to do it ourselves. Let them hear you at the fucking White House!
He went on to say: “This White House is destroying the American idea and our reputation around the world,” adding: “We are America, the reckless, unpredictable, predatory, untrustworthy, rogue nation.”
The DOJ first shared news of its intention to establish a $1.776billion “anti-weaponisation fund” last week (May 18), with it coming as part of the settlement agreement in Trump’s now-dismissed lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Department over the leak of his tax returns in 2019.
Offering financial relief to applicants who feel they’ve been mistreated by law enforcement, Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said “the machinery of government should never be weaponised against any American” in a statement at the time.
“It is this department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,” he went on. “As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponisation to be heard and seek redress.”
Springsteen’s comments come after the musician got wrapped up in multiple heated disputes with Trump himself in recent months. In one instance, he called for him to be impeached and “consigned to the trash heap of history”, and had previously described the President as “corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous”.
Donald Trump shares post about Bruce Springsteen after the singer criticized him during a concert in Manchester:
“This dried out “prune” of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just “standard fare.” Then… pic.twitter.com/oSUPwwXG4A
— Pop Base (@PopBase) May 16, 2025
In response, Trump branded The Boss a “pushy, obnoxious JERK”, as well as a “dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker”.
The rock icon launched his ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’ tour in Minneapolis back in March, and used his time on stage to continue his long-running criticism of Trump and the actions of ICE following the killing of two of the city’s citizens – Renee Good and Alex Pretti. He also claimed that US citizens were “living through some very dark times” as the “American values that have sustained us for 250 years are being challenged as never before.”
Meanwhile, the White House slammed Springsteen’s tour before it had even started, with Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung saying: “When this loser Springsteen comes back home to his own City of Ruins in his head, he’ll realise his Glory Days are behind him and his fans have left him Out in the Street, putting him in a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out because he has a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his brain”.
More recently, Springsteen took a principled stance in the wake of an assassination attempt on Trump.
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