The Different Drummer

Will The Real Working Class Hero Please Stand Up

Springsteen and the President appeal to the working class, “The Boss” empowering them through storytelling, Trump harnessing their fears.

“Poor man wanna be rich

Rich man wanna be king

And a king ain’t satisfied

’Til he rules everything”

– Bruce Springsteen, “Badlands”

Though I grew up just miles from the New York–New Jersey border, Bruce Springsteen was little more than background music in my youth. Maybe if I had an older sibling or parents with a more expansive taste in music, they would have clued me into the ghosts we were walking amongst as our family spent weekends in Asbury Park visiting my grandparents in nearby Bradley Beach. Instead, I was blissfully ignorant as we played skee ball along the boardwalk and rode the rides at Palace Amusements, the Ferris wheel rising through its roof.

“Beyond the Palace, Hemi-powered drones

Scream down the Boulevard”

- Springsteen, “Born…