Rock music icon Bruce Springsteen, a high-profile Democratic donor, questioned President-elect Donald Trump’s competency in an interview published Monday.
“I’ve felt disgust before, but never the kind of fear that you feel now,” Springsteen told Marc Maron on his WTF podcast. “It’s as simple as the fear of, is someone simply competent enough to do this particular job? Do they simply have the pure competence to be put in the position of such responsibility?”
Springsteen said he is afraid of what he sees as the effect Trump has had on the future of the US.
“When you let that genie out of the bottle — bigotry, racism, intolerance, they don’t go back in the bottle that easily if they go back in at all,” he said. “Whether it’s a rise in hate crimes, people feeling they have license to speak and behave in ways that previously were considered un-American and are un-American. That’s what he’s appealing to. My fears are that those things find a place in ordinary, civil society.”
The musician did note that he could understand how Trump got elected. Springsteen said Trump’s “very simplistic, but very powerful ideas” could have led Americans who fear threats such as ISIS or job loss to vote for the businessman turned politician.
“There’s plenty of good, solid folks that voted for Donald Trump,” he said, “as well as people who had other agendas.”
Springsteen’s support of Democrat Hillary Clinton, in fact, lost him at least one fan, presumably one of those “good, solid” folks.
Dave Calabro, also known as Jersey Dave, a 57-year-old South Philadelphian and Trump supporter who thought America had lost its way. According to CNN’s first-ever election book, “Unprecedented: The Election That Changed Everything,” Calabro used to love Bruce Springsteen, but thought the Boss had disgraced himself by supporting Clinton.
But despite expressing his fear about the future of the country, Springsteen remained optimistic.
“America is still America. I’m still believe in its ideals, and I’m going to do my best to play my very, very small part in maintaining those things,” he said.
