Born to Rant: Springsteen’s Truth to Power Screed Is the Rallying Cry We Need

Shakespeare knew it centuries ago: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Trump’s response to Bruce Springsteen’s warnings given from a stage in Manchester came quick—loud, erratic, and dripping with grievance. Was this the voice of presidential confidence, or was it the howl of a man watching the walls close in? When power is secure, it whispers. When it’s scared, it shouts. And Trump’s over-the-top denials say the quiet part out loud: he’s terrified.

—On January 19, 1967, inside the cavernous walls of Studio One at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios, John Lennon and Paul McCartney sat side by side, piecing together what would become the final track of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Lennon, hunched over his acoustic guitar, sang the haunting opening lines of “A Day in the Life,”