Quisling with a borrowed workshirt

Unlike citizens of foreign lands, Americans enjoy the liberty to criticize government figures without fear of punishment. That's as it should be - on our own soil. 

There was a time when blasting America and its president while on foreign soil simply wasn't done. The Dixie Chicks never recovered, professionally, after their 2003 London scandal. 

But judging by the uncritical (sometimes fawning) reportage of Bruce Springsteen's recent overseas spewing of disloyalty, the seditious trio may simply have been ahead of its time.

Springsteen ranted to a Manchester, England audience that President Trump and his administration were "corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous." And the faded star charged Trump is an "unfit president" and that ours is a "rogue government."

He wasn't hindered by the reality that Trump and his common-sense inclinations were overwhelmingly chosen by American voters. That's called "Democracy."

Springsteen attained major prominence in the 1970s with "Born In the USA." But to whatever extent his blue-collar posture might once have been authentic, it is today as counterfeit as the "Scranton Joe" character Biden once pretended at.

(Remember, the 2024 Trump candidacy attracted a dramatic upswell of working people's ballots. And the UAW has praised Trump's tariffs tactic to bring manufacturing jobs back to America.)

The Gateway Pundit nailed it: "Springsteen had a tantrum overseas because the American people overwhelmingly rejected his politics of open borders, social tyranny, high (ticket) prices and economic stagnation, transgenderism, racially divisive DEI policies, climate cultism, and weak foreign policy that put the globe on the edge of World War III."

His is a repugnant attitude often flaunted by Democrats. Whether lying to the American people about Biden's mental acuity, firebombing Tesla dealerships, numerous vain machinations to impeach President Trump during his first term, or later attempting to have reelection candidate Trump removed from state ballots, Democrats' unambiguous ambition is to sabotage any political effort not their own. 

By any means necessary. That's called "Undemocratic."

Do not be surprised if Springsteen next pens a reverential anthem to Thomas Crooks or Luigi Mangioni.

Now, let's turn our thoughts from Springsteen and others of his unpatriotic ilk. Better to recall instead a time when healthy nationalism was a sturdy bridge that united even Americans of divergent pursuits.

In 1941 film Roar of the Press, reporter Wally Williams (Wallace Ford) and numbers racket boss Sparrow McGraun (Paul Fix) discuss an anti-American network active in their hometown of New York:

Sparrow: "Me, I'm mixed up in a good, clean racket. But there's some people runnin' around loose who ain't. They're out to get this country into trouble. And that's the mob you're runnin' up against. They're tough. Plenty tough. Foreigners, mostly. And they won't stop at nothin'!"

Wally: "How do you know about this?"

Sparrow: "They propositioned me. Wanted to know how much you know about their set-up. They figure you're gettin' too nosy."

Wally: "Wait a minute. Did they send you to scare me off?"

Sparrow: "Certainly not! I don't want any part a them. They're un-American. They're against this country, and they oughtta be exposed. Me, I got me a racket, sure. And the cops don't like it. But that ain't nothin' against this country."

Wally: "Thanks, pal!"

Sparrow: "Ah, it's nothin'. Us Americans gotta stick together."