Springsteen punch
The Benicia Herald, July 12, 2026, by Stephen Golub
During Bruce Springsteen’s recently completed “Land of Hope and Dreams” concert tour, his “This Is Happening Now” speech in the middle of each show packed as much punch as his music. He delivered it just before his song, “My City of Ruins” – which, despite its title, is distinguished by its hopeful refrain: “Rise up!”
It’s in that spirit that I share the core of a Reddit post that quotes most of Springsteen’s speech (as delivered at his April 20 Newark concert). Following almost every quote, you’ll find italicized commentary by the post’s author, Chris Jordan of The Asbury Park Press. Jordan’s illuminating remarks back up Bruce’s statements with relevant documentation.
In a few instances, I supplement Jordan’s commentary with my own remarks, in brackets.
For me, the power of the speech culminates in Springsteen’s concluding message. It’s as uplifting as most of his songs.
Here’s what Springsteen said, then, along with Jordan’s explanatory comments (again, in italics) and my additional remarks (in brackets):
Bruce: “Our young men and women’s lives are at risk in an unwise and illegal war. This is happening now.”
The Iran war has been called illegal by members of Congress who say the action was unprovoked and a violation of international law as there was no imminent threat, and no Congressional approval was sought.
Bruce: “There are immigrants being held in for-profit detention centers around the country and being deported without due process of law to alien countries and foreign prisons. This is happening now.“
A U.S. District Judge ruled in February that the Department of Homeland Security deporting immigrants who arrived here illegally to “third countries” is “not fine, nor is it legal.” The deportees should not be sent to where their “life or freedom would be threatened” because of their “race, religion, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.”
The two largest private prison corporations reported profits of more than a billion dollars in total for second quarter, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
[As articulated by principled conservative authors in The Bulwark’s “A Season of Death and Fear” online post, two of the many other manifestations of current immigration policy can be found in the highly questionable shooting death (and apparent coverup) by ICE agents of a 35-year US resident in Texas and the possibly imminent deportation of a hard-working immigrant community in Ohio that has lived in America legally for years.]
Bruce: “Our Justice Department has thrown away its independence, and it takes its orders directly from a corrupt White House. They prosecute our president’s perceived enemies, they cover up for his misdeeds and protect his powerful friends. This is happening now.”
DOJ lawyers have lost credibility in the courts after ignoring court orders, misrepresented facts and made arguments with no basis in the law, said Stacey Young, executive director of Justice Connection, an advocacy group for former DOJ workers. More than 3,300 attorneys left the Justice Department between Trump’s first day back in office and February 2026, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Meanwhile, only about 800 attorneys have been hired.
Bruce: “The richest men in America have abandoned the world’s poorest children to death and disease, by dismantling USAID. It’s not on the front pages anymore but it’s happening now. People are dying.“
More than 757,000 people, the majority of them children, have died from the funding cuts to USAID, according to ImpactCounter, which tracks the effect of USAID cuts, as reported by the Health Policy Watch. There are also almost a million more malaria cases, over 700,000 affecting children.
The budget for USAID was slashed by Elon Musk, former head of the Department of Government Efficacy, last year.
[A leading medical journal, The Lancet, estimates that within four years the USAID cuts could yield over 14 million deaths worldwide, 4.5 million of them children under five.]
Bruce: “We undermined NATO, the world order that’s kept us safe and at global peace for 80 years. This is happening now.”
President Donald Trump has said that NATO, a defense alliance created after World War II, was a “paper tiger” and that he’s considering withdrawing America from the alliance.
[In contrast, as summarized by the online site Politico, he has repeatedly praised the authoritarian leaders of China, Hungary, Russia, Turkey and even totalitarian North Korea.]
Bruce: “We threaten our good neighbors and our allies whose sons and daughters have fought alongside us in American wars, Canada and (Denmark), we threaten them with predatory annexation of their land. This is happening now.”
Trump has repeatedly said Canada should be the 51st state and launched tariffs against our neighbor to the north, which has resulted in fewer Canadians visiting the Jersey Shore than in recent years, and also secured a political victory for the ruling Liberal Party, which was fading in the polls until Trump’s rhetoric reversed its fortunes. Meanwhile, Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s prime minister, said that Trump is “very serious” about acquiring Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish island off North America.
[At this past week’s NATO summit, Trump doubled down on his Greenland threat against Denmark, which lost more soldiers per capita as America’s ally in Afghanistan than the United States itself did.]
Bruce: “Our museums are being told to whitewash American history of any unpleasant or inconvenient facts, like the full history of the brutality of slavery. You want to talk about snowflakes? We have a president who can’t handle the truth. This is happening now.”
Trump’s declarations and executive orders have led to the altering and dismantling of slavery exhibits, such as one at the site of George Washington’s house in Philadelphia when he was president, the restoration of Confederate statues and other initiatives, say civil rights advocates, according to Reuters.
Bruce: “While working Americans struggle, our president and his family enrich themselves by billions of dollars trading on the people’s office in corruption unmatched in American history. This is happening now.”
Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, raised $2 billion from the Saudi Arabia government’s Public Investment Fund for his private equity fund and has collected more than $110 million in management fees from the Saudi government, according to Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Congressman Robert Garcia (D-CA). He’s currently in negotiations with Iran, a neighbor of Saudi Arabia, to settle the war.
[Departing from past presidents’ practice of separating themselves from previous financial interests, Trump’s own businesses made an unprecedented $2.2 billion in 2025 alone, including from Saudi Arabian real estate deals, a massive crypto-currency venture with a criminal he pardoned and other crypto deals. Through June 2026, nearly a million people (that is, most of his crypto investors) lost over $3.8 billion on such deals.]
The sum of these transgressions is undermining America, Springsteen says:
“This White House is destroying the American idea and our reputation around the world. To many, we are no longer looked upon as an often imperfect but strong defender of democracy standing for the global good. We are no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave. We are now, to many, America the reckless, unpredictable, predatory rogue nation. That is this administration and this president’s legacy. This is happening now,” Springsteen said.
“Honesty, honor, humility, truth, compassion, humanity, thoughtfulness, morality, true strength and decency — don’t let anybody tell you that these things don’t matter anymore — they do. They are at the heart of the kind of men and women we are, the kind of citizens we want to be, the kind of country we’ll be leaving to our children. So many of our elected leaders have failed us that this American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people — by you. So join us and let’s fight for the America that we love.”
Stephen Golub writes about democracy and politics, both in America and abroad, at A Promised Land: America as a Developing Country.
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