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Los Angeles Times . . ."After Vote for Change, Springsteen not only declared his support for Obama during the 2008 race but he also performed at campaign appearances and, later, at Obama’s inauguration. Since then, he’s become Democratic Party royalty. In 2016, he played at an election eve rally for Hilary Clinton in Philadelphia and also endorsed her, while calling her opponent Trump a “flagrant toxic narcissist.” And in the 2020 election, he narrated a TV ad for Joe Biden, allowed his music to be used by the candidate’s campaign and performed at
. . ."When Springsteen played a McGovern benefit, the Democrats were reliably supported by white working class voters, and the Republicans were the party of big business and the affluent. In the last 30 years, there’s been a significant inversion of class affiliation, culminating in Trump’s election; in 2016, white voters without college degrees favored Trump 64% to 28% over Clinton, and 65% voted for him in 2020, when they comprised 42% of the total electorate. The characters in Springsteen songs — the disillusioned Vietnam vet, the guy who makes his money racing in the streets — they’re likely Trump supporters now. If the Democrats lose the House in the midterm elections next year, it will largely be because the people who most resemble his characters no longer believe the same things he does.
"Some people inherit their politics as a kind of birthright and join the same party as their parents. But there are families, like the Springsteens, for whom politics feel irrelevant. It’s one thing to embrace liberalism after growing up around liberals, and another to work your way toward it despite never having met a liberal as you were growing up. In “Renegades,” Springsteen outlines the slow but authentic path he took, starting in a small town where patriotism was synonymous with saluting the flag, and moving toward an understanding that patriotism isn’t about the flag, but about the ideals that flag represents."
