Shunning the need for support from musicians Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Bruce Springsteen, President Donald Trump mocked Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign maneuver as a gimmick that brought superficial crowds.
"And I didn't need Beyoncé and Jay-Z, and I didn't need little Bruce Springsteen and all of these – they got all these people," Trump told a Minneapolis, Minnesota, rally Thursday night.
"They would come in, they would sing. They got Bruce Springsteen. He would do about two songs and leave. What happens is they leave and everyone leaves with them, and she is still speaking in front of the same lousy crowd. Craziest thing I have ever seen."
The remarks went viral on social media, with defenders of the musicians taking shots at the president.
Democrat presidential primary candidate Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., was one of them, tweeting:
"Little Bruce Springsteen? I think you mean Bruce Springsteen and the heart-stopping, hard-rocking, earth-quaking, justifying, death-defying, legendary E Street Band."
Like Clinton's hailing of music stars, the love has not been reciprocal – as Trump claimed.
While Booker felt inspired to defend his state's musical hero, Springsteen had not thought much of his state's senator, or Trump, for that matter.
Springsteen ripped Trump as "deeply damaged at his core" a year ago to Esquire, but he also predicted Trump is going to beat the Democrat nominee in 2020.
"I don't see anyone out there at the moment . . . the man who can beat Trump, or the woman who can beat Trump," Springsteen said in an interview. "You need someone who can speak some of the same language [as Trump] . . . and the Democrats don't have an obvious, effective presidential candidate."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.