Bruce Springsteen performs on stage at the Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour held at Madison Square Garden on May 11, 2026, in New York. Daniel Zuchnik/Variety
Bruce Springsteen is continuing to call out Donald Trump on stage, this time declaring the president’s “anti-weaponization fund” an “American outrage.”
At his Wednesday night (May 27) concert in Washington, D.C., Springsteen tore into the Justice Department’s new plan to set aside nearly $1.8 billion for those who have “suffered weaponization and lawfare,” language that detractors have speculated refers to people who faced legal repercussions for their involvement in the riots that followed shortly after Trump’s loss in the 2020 election.
“We have a president who wants to create a $1.8 billion fund to compensate and reward people who attacked our nation’s capitol,” the Boss lamented between songs at Nationals Park stadium. “Attacked our democracy. Assaulted our police officers on Jan. 6. This is an American outrage, and this is happening now.”
“This American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people,” Springsteen added, earning applause. “There is no one coming to save us. We’ve got to do it ourselves … Let them hear you at the f–king White House!”
Billboard has reached out to the White House for comment.
The DOJ first published its intention to establish a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” on May 18. It comes as part of the settlement agreement in Trump’s now-dismissed lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Department over the leak of his tax returns in 2019, and it will offer monetary relief to applicants who feel they’ve been mistreated by law enforcement.
“The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,” said Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche in a statement at the time. “As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”
The fund will surely be appealing to many of the insurrectionists who faced legal consequences for the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill — nearly 1,600 of whom the POTUS pardoned on his first day back in office in January 2025 — which Springsteen and others believe was the point of the fund to begin with. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is well known at this point for slamming Trump on stage and off, and the president has personally fired back at him numerous times over the past year or so.
“Bad, and very boring singer, Bruce Springsteen, who looks like a dried up prune … has long had a horrible and incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in April after the singer condemned ICE at a show in Minneapolis. “MAGA SHOULD BOYCOTT HIS OVERPRICED CONCERTS, WHICH SUCK.”
Following his stop in D.C., Springsteen has one more date scheduled for the Land of Hope & Dreams Tour. The trek will close out on Saturday (May 30) in Philadelphia.
