Bruce Springsteen was/is on the cover of the October issue of Vanity Fair – I covered it several weeks back. I read the whole cover story, and I was surprised by the fact that Springsteen didn’t give a full-throated endorsement of Hillary Clinton. Bruce is a long-time supporter of Democrats and progressive/liberal political causes, and his last big endorsement was for President Obama. Springsteen actually campaigned for Obama, performing at many rallies, etc. Bruce hasn’t performed at any Clinton rallies so far, and there was some question as to whether he was even going to endorse anyone during this election cycle. Well, we didn’t need to worry. Bruce is With Her. Bruce will be on the cover of Rolling Stone’s next issue, and RS already previewed the cover story with Bruce’s views on this election cycle. Some highlights:

What he makes of the Trump phenomenon: “Well, you know, the republic is under siege by a moron, basically. The whole thing is tragic. Without overstating it, it’s a tragedy for our democracy. When you start talking about elections being rigged, you’re pushing people beyond democratic governance. And it’s a very, very dangerous thing to do. Once you let those genies out of the bottle, they don’t go back in so easy, if they go back in at all. The ideas he’s moving to the mainstream are all very dangerous ideas – white nationalism and the alt-right movement. The outrageous things that he’s done – not immediately disavowing David Duke? These are things that are obviously beyond the pale for any previous political candidate. It would sink your candidacy immediately.

His thoughts on the decline of manufacturing in America: “I believe that there’s a price being paid for not addressing the real cost of the deindustrialization and globalization that has occurred in the United States for the past 35, 40 years and how it’s deeply affected people’s lives and deeply hurt people to where they want someone who says they have a solution. And Trump’s thing is simple answers to very complex problems. Fallacious answers to very complex problems. And that can be very appealing.”

Whether he’s lost faith in using his platform to do endorsements: “I don’t know. I think you have a limited amount of impact as an entertainer, performer or musician. I feel what I’ve done was certainly worth doing. And I did it at the time because I felt the country was in crisis, which it certainly is right now. I don’t know if we’ve been approached or not to do anything at the moment. If so, I would take it into consideration and see where it goes…No, I haven’t really lost faith in what I consider to be the small amount of impact that somebody in rock music might be able to have. I don’t think people go to musicians for their political points of view. I think your political point of view is circumstances and then how you were nurtured and brought up. But it’s worth giving a shot when it’s the only thing you have.

Whether there’s a lack of enthusiasm for Hillary for him: “No. I like Hillary. I think she would be a very, very good president.”

[From Rolling Stone]

I feel relieved. I shouldn’t have doubted The Boss! He knows what’s up. And I think he’s just reached a point where he doesn’t really feel like his endorsement would sway voters one way or the other. It’s not that he dislikes Hillary Clinton or anything – he’s pretty clearly going to vote for her – it’s just his own feelings about the celebrity-political connection world. As for what he says about Donald Trump… yes. And I love that The Boss is justifiably appalled by Trump’s leaning in to white supremacy. It is gross, disgusting and “beyond the pale.”

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.