Bruce Springsteen has been ripping Trump from the stage every single night on his sold-out tour.
The Boss called the president "corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless and treasonous" – in front of paying fans who came to hear music.
Now the man who played drums behind him before Springsteen was even famous just said what most of America was already thinking.
E Street Band Founder Tells Springsteen He Has It Wrong on Trump
Vini Lopez was there before the E Street Band had a name.
He drummed alongside Springsteen in 1969 when they were calling themselves Child – a garage band in New Jersey with no record deal and no stadium tours.
He played on Springsteen's first two albums.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an original E Street Band member in 2014.
And last week, Lopez looked at what Springsteen is doing on the Land of Hope and Dreams tour and said no.
"You gotta have respect for the president," Lopez told the California Post. "He is the president of the United States. And if I was standing there talking to him, I would have mucho respect for the man."
Lopez said he personally met Trump years ago at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey – before Trump ever ran for office.
Trump shook his hand.
Introduced him to Melania.
Then pulled Lopez aside as he was leaving and asked for one favor.
"Tell Bruce I'm his biggest fan."
What Trump Actually Said to Springsteen's Drummer at Bedminster
That story matters because it shows who Donald Trump actually is when nobody's performing for cameras.
A man who took time to shake a drummer's hand, introduce him to his wife, and make sure his favorite musician knew he still had fans in high places.
Springsteen has spent this entire tour painting Trump as the villain of American democracy.
But the guy who built Springsteen's sound from the very beginning – the original drummer, the Hall of Famer, the man who was there before any of this was famous – walked away from that golf club thinking Trump was "very nice" and "very inquisitive."
Lopez keeps his politics simple.
He votes Republican from city council to Congress.
https://twitter.com/77WABCradio/status/2043685023857963220?s=20
He met the president and shook his hand.
And he thinks Springsteen is wrong.
"My band, whatever we think, we don't go there in our music," he said.
That's called professionalism.
That's called respect for the people in the seats who paid to hear songs – not lectures.
The Real Cost of Springsteen's Land of Hope and Dreams Tour
Springsteen isn't just ranting for free.
He's charging hundreds to thousands of dollars a ticket on a tour he declared would be "political and very topical about what's going on in the country" before the first note was played.
The people in those seats didn't just buy a concert.
Trump called Springsteen's tickets "overpriced" and told MAGA supporters to boycott.
He's not wrong.
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When one of the wealthiest musicians alive charges a working family thousands of dollars a seat and then tells them the president they voted for is treasonous – that's not art.
That's a shakedown.
Lopez isn't bitter about any of it.
He said he and Springsteen are still on "perfect" terms.
He just won't be at the shows.
What Lopez understands – what Springsteen apparently forgot somewhere between the mansions and the stadium lights – is that the man who ran a golf club in New Jersey once took a minute to be kind to a drummer he barely knew.
That's not the monster Springsteen is selling tickets to see.
Sources:
- Ashley Hume, "Bruce Springsteen's former drummer pushes back on the Boss's political attacks on Trump," Fox News, April 12, 2026.
- "Bruce Springsteen faces growing criticism over sky-high ticket prices for anti-Trump Democracy Tour launch," Fox News, April 2026.
- "Springsteen doubles down on anti-Trump, anti-ICE stance, says 'blowback is just part of it,'" Fox News, April 2026.