Trump-hating rocker Bruce Springsteen is allowing the American Civil Liberties Union to use his iconic, if often misunderstood, America trashing Vietnam War anthem “Born in the USA” for the ACLU’s ad campaign promoting the leftist group’s birthright citizenship case set for an April 1 Supreme Court hearing challenging President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order restricting who is eligible for birthright American citizenship.
Screen image from Bruce Springsteen video endorsing Kamala Harris for president in 2024.
The use of Born in the USA as a patriotic song is a 180 degree reversal for Springsteen who has long downplayed the notion the song is patriotic.
When Born in the USA was released in mid 1984 as an album title and later a single, both promoted with Springsteen in front of a large American flag, it was embraced by conservatives, including President Ronald Reagan and columnist George Will, for it’s boisterous chest pounding chorus.
The song’s theme of a disgruntled Vietnam veteran who was used, abused and forgotten by his countrymen, ending up in prison, was overshadowed at concerts by the blaring stadium rock anthem arrangement and singalong chorus that audiences in the U.S. and around the world proudly sang: “Born in the USA!!! Born in the USA!!!”
Promotional image for Born in the USA, 1984.
This 1988 performance of Born in the USA in communist East Berlin before a massive crowd of East Germans who couldn’t wait for the chorus to start loudly singing “Born in the USA!!!” shows what the song has meant to so many, even if Springsteen wrote it as a put down of the USA:
In recent years, Springsteen has refrained from playing Born in the USA for American audiences. A check of SetList.FM shows the song is played at every European shows as the lead encore, but played just a handful of times at American arena and stadium shows over the past decade (a stripped down acoustic version of the song was a staple of Springsteen’s intimate Broadway shows, however.)
Springsteen is scheduled to kickoff his American tour protesting President Trump this weekend. The tour, dubbed “No Kings”, has been ripped by fans for charging a king’s ransom with front row seats (behind the standing room pit) retailing for around $3,000 at many venues. There is no word if Born in the USA will be in the set.
60 second ACLU ad:
30 second ad:
Excerpt from the press release by the ACLU issued Monday:
Today, the American Civil Liberties Union launched a national ad campaign ahead of the organization’s April 1 arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on a landmark case challenging America’s constitutional right to birthright citizenship. The campaign, which represents an uplifting visual tapestry of what it means to be an American, features Bruce Springsteen’s iconic anthem “Born in the U.S.A.”
In a rare move, Springsteen authorized the ACLU’s use of the song to highlight what’s at stake in the Supreme Court case, Trump v. Barbara, and how the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship is integral to American values and the very fabric of our nation.
“Bruce Springsteen’s song ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ is an American anthem. It captures what birthright citizenship has made possible for generations: the simple, powerful guarantee that if you are born here, you belong here, if you’re born in the USA, you’re an American. Period,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU. “As the ACLU prepares to defend this bedrock principle in the highest court of the land, we are joined by millions of Americans who agree that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution – not President Trump – decides who is a citizen.”
Titled, “The Beat,” the ad campaign was produced as a partnership between Stink, Creative Artists Agency, and the ACLU, and directed by award-winning filmmaker Anderson Wright.
The campaign centers on a nationally distributed video airing across broadcast and digital platforms, including during quintessential American primetime programs such as MLB’s opening game day, Survivor, The Voice finale, and more.
The 30-second television spot will debut on March 23 in advance of the ACLU’s oral arguments before the Supreme Court on April 1. A digital billboard will also appear outside Minneapolis’ Target Center from March 30-31, coinciding with the launch of Springsteen’s 2026 Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour in the city.
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Background on Trump v. Barbara
On the first day of his second term, President Trump signed an executive order attempting to deny birthright citizenship for babies born in the United States to parents without permanent legal status. Within hours of the executive order being signed, the ACLU and its partners challenged the order in court, securing rulings that have prevented it from taking effect. Multiple courts have found the policy unconstitutional and inconsistent with longstanding Supreme Court precedent. The Supreme Court will now consider, in Trump v. Barbara, whether a president can unilaterally restrict the Constitution’s guarantee of citizenship to children born on U.S. soil. On April 1, the court will hear oral arguments from the ACLU’s National Legal Director Cecillia Wang who has spent more than 20 years at the ACLU and is herself a birthright citizen.
George Will’s rave review and Springsteen’s reaction to Reagan’s praise as reported by Salon (excerpt):
On September 13, 1984, George F. Will published his thoughts on the August 25 Capital Centre [Bruce Springsteen] show in his nationally syndicated column. He made some jokes about his own lack of hipness—he wasn’t sure if that was marijuana he was smelling and he had never heard anything so loud—but he proceeded to analyze the show nonetheless.
“I have not got a clue about Springsteen’s politics, if any,” Will wrote, “but flags get waved at his concerts while he sings songs about hard times. He is no whiner, and the recitation of closed factories and other problems always seems punctuated by a grand, cheerful affirmation: ‘Born in the U.S.A.’” Springsteen, Will added, plays “rock for the United Steelworkers” and those steelworkers and their fellow American workers would have nothing to whine about if they all “made their products with as much energy and confidence as Springsteen and his merry band make music.”
…When the president came to Hammonton, New Jersey, on September 19, he added something extra to his standard campaign stump speech. “America’s future,” he said, “rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about.” But when reporters asked what Reagan’s favorite Springsteen song was, his campaign staff was at a loss for an answer.
On September 21, at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, Springsteen paused between songs and told the crowd, “The president was mentioning my name in his speech the other day, and I got to wondering what his favorite album of mine must’ve been. I don’t think it was the Nebraska album. I don’t think he’s been listening to this one.” And he played “Johnny 99,” the story of a laid-off factory worker who can’t find a new job and can’t keep up with his mortgage, so he gets drunk and shoots a night clerk in a bungled robbery.
The next night, at the same arena, Springsteen spoke more forcefully. “There’s something really dangerous happening to us out there now. We’re slowly getting split up into two different Americas. Things are being taken away from the people that need them and given to the people that don’t. There’s a promise getting broken. In the beginning the idea was we all live here a little bit like a family where the strong can help the weak ones, the rich can help the poor ones. You know, the American dream.
“I don’t think it was that everybody was going to make a billion dollars but that everybody was going to have an opportunity and a chance to live a life with some decency and some dignity. I know you’ve got to be feeling the pinch here where the rivers meet.” With that, he played “The River,” another song about a laid-off worker.
According to Forbes, Springsteen, who denies he is a billionaire, is worth about $1.2 billion in 2026.
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