The first time I heard Bruce Springsteen play “Land of Hope and Dreams” during his reunion tour of 1999, I nearly wept. Summoning the spirit of Woody Guthrie’s Bound for Glory and The Impressions’ gospel-tinged “People Get Ready,” the soul-soaring number evoked America as a train, with “this train” welcoming “saints and sinners,” “losers and winners,” “whores and thieves,” “losers and kings.” All aboard. Nearly 30 years “down the tracks,” Springsteen has launched his “Land of Hope and Dreams Tour.” Except now, instead of “all aboard,” it’s “No MAGA is welcome.” On what he has openly dubbed a “very political” tour, Springsteen unleashes a nightly diatribe against what he calls the “corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless and treasonous” president, while touting “No Kings.” (As if any tyrannical king would allow a mere musician to call him corrupt and treasonous without being hauled to the tower.) Lost in the huffing is the reality that President Donald Trump was elected by a majority of the American people. Elected by people who see him as a champion against the entrenched powers and global elites who have spent decades running them into the ground. Elected, in fact, by the very people Springsteen has made a king’s ransom writing about. The people—white, black, yellow, and brown—proud to live in this “American Land,” who wave the American flag … not the communist flags, rainbow flags, and the flags of Hamas seen at No Kings. The blue-collar workers in “Youngstown” whose factories and mills got shut down … that Trump is busting tail to reopen. Trump did not “forget their name.” The oil workers from “Seeds” whose jobs were “gone, gone, gone” … but are now booming, booming, booming thanks to “Drill, baby, drill.” The “Born in the U.S.A.” veterans who’d been abandoned by the nation … but are now a priority rather than sex change operations for soldiers. Those from his “City in Ruins” … whose streets are safer, whose businesses are less burdened, whose children are being rescued from trans ideology and falling test scores. You could say he’s thrown Mary and Wendy and Madam Marie, even Rosalita, over for the likes of Jane Fonda and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. No, the type of people Springsteen wrote about are no longer welcome in Springsteen’s world—certainly not at his concert tour, even if they could afford the astronomical prices. Like pal former President Barack Obama scoffing at those who cling to their guns and religion, he holds them out to be simpletons manipulated and duped by the evil Orange Man. Take “Streets of Minneapolis” … Please. It’s no secret Springsteen is a leftist. He railed against nuclear power in the ’70s, Ronald Reagan in the ’80s, performed benefits for radical leftist groups in the ’90s, and spent the Biden years doing podcasts and cruising around in yachts with Obama while “This Hard Land” crumbled and Americans suffered. But what makes his current actions so disappointing is his refusal to play straight. Take, for example, his recent protest song “Streets of Minneapolis.” The song is a condemnation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a deification of Renée Good—the woman who gunned her car at an ICE agent and lost her life. He wrote and recorded the song immediately after hearing about the incident. Except Springsteen didn’t rush to write a “Streets of Chicago” about the innocent 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman, recently executed in the Windy City by an illegal immigrant—precisely the kind of illegal immigrant ICE is trying to remove from our country. No “Streets of Fort Myers” for the mother of two bludgeoned to death with a hammer by an illegal immigrant from Haiti on April 3. The Boss’s “War” With Himself Another example: Springsteen’s opening-night concert in Minneapolis began with Barrett Strong’s Vietnam-era anthem “War.” This led to a tirade about the “illegal” and “unconstitutional” war against Iran. Factually untrue—but more to the point, where is Springsteen’s “Streets of Tehran”? He’s hot and bothered about Good and Alex Pretti, both of whom interfered with and accosted ICE agents, who arguably acted in self-defense, but not a single chord or word for the 30,000 protesters slaughtered like sheep in Iran? Or the surviving protesters who—thanks to Trump—may actually soon hear the “Chimes of Freedom”? (Another cover on the set list.) For that matter, Springsteen wasn’t out there singing “War” when his BFF Obama was bombing Libya for months on end. Or orchestrating an overthrow of the Ukraine government, which helped lead to the bloody endless war they’re in today. Or mucking up the Middle East, giving rise to ISIS. Principle seems to have no role in Springsteen’s public politics. More disappointing, his hypocritical dismissal of a majority of Americans breaks the unspoken promise Springsteen made from the start of his career to “Be True” to his loyal audience. Count me among them. As he sings in “The Promise”: “When the promise is broken, and the truth makes no difference, something in your heart grows cold.” Still, Springsteen built up a Jersey-sized cache of goodwill over his half-century in the spotlight. And while he’s burning through that goodwill like drag racers burn rubber on “the fire roads and the interstate,” one can hope The Boss puts aside the TDS and meet us again in this Land of Hope and Dreams. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion policies may only look dead in corporate America, as high-priced racial equity audits for some of the largest firms have become a lucrative industry for Democrat-leaning law firms, a watchdog group noted. Two former attorneys general under the Obama administration—Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch—have led their respective firms’ efforts on the racial equity audits. Holder is a partner with the firm Covington & Burling. Lynch is the chairwoman of civil rights and racial equity audits at the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. The National Legal and Policy Center noted the boon for the major law firms as the White House released a report examining the economic impact of DEI policies. “Behind the scenes, DEI is not really dead. It’s more under the radar now, but many corporate executives are true believers,” Paul Chesser, director of the Corporate Integrity Project at the National Legal and Policy Center, told The Daily Signal. “We’ve gone from grassroots rabble-rousers like Al Sharpton shaking down companies to white-shoe law firms run by former attorneys general.” An NLPC analysis last week found that Holder was reportedly paid $2,295 per hour for a string of racial equity audits that began in 2021 at companies including Starbucks, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, BlackRock, Verizon, and Uber. Lynch’s firm, Paul Weiss, bragged that it had “possibly the nation’s first dedicated legal team focused on conducting racial equity and other civil rights audits.” The firm conducted audits of Amazon and Chevron. Another prominent firm, WilmerHale, also conducted racial equity audits of McDonald’s, Google, Home Depot, and Goldman Sachs, according to the NLPC. The three law firms did not respond to requests for comment for this story. Two of the corporations identified by the NLPC as paying for the audits told the Daily Signal they had no comment; others did not respond to requests for comment. The White House Council of Economic Advisers released a report last week assessing companies that focused on DEI-based promotions, and it found they were 2.7% less productive. It also found promotions of minorities to management positions were four times higher from 2015 to 2023 than they were from 2005 to 2015. The study determined industries that focused heavily on DEI promotions experienced lower productivity. The White House report says, “These estimates imply that DEI promotion has led to inefficient management, raising the cost of doing business. These costs lead the companies practicing DEI to hire fewer people and pay their workers less.” These audits have died down, but the divisions of the law firms are still running, so the industry could boom again when political winds change, Chesser said. Corporations frequently presented these audits as independent, objective reviews, but the National Legal and Policy Center contends the big fees effectively bought access to “homogeneous Democratic law firms.” The NLPC points to a 2025 analysis by Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller of law firms’ political donations in the 2024 election cycle. The analysis found that Covington employees donated more than $1 million to Democrat-affiliated organizations and candidates, compared with just $9,053 to Republicans. The same analysis found Paul Weiss employees spent $3.8 million on Democrat causes and candidates and $132,495 on Republican-affiliated candidates and causes. “A number of companies have already capitulated and will likely illustrate cowardice again if there is a little social media pressure,” Chesser said. “These are multibillion-dollar companies. They can pay a few million dollars to make a problem go away.”

When we created the Daily Signal nearly 12 years ago, we made a promise to you: We would never be content with the status quo. Innovation is part of our culture. Today, that commitment takes another major leap forward. We are proud to unveil a completely redesigned DailySignal.com—a faster, more intuitive, and more powerful platform built to match the ambition of our journalism. Truthful and trustworthy journalism is needed now more than ever. Legacy media continues to fail the American people, and a growing audience is turning to the Daily Signal for news. Our team is consistently producing investigative stories, compelling commentary, and engaging shows, but it wasn’t always easy to find that great content on our website. That changes today. Designed With You in Mind When we set out to redesign our website, we did so with you in mind. Your browsing habits and feedback guided our work. We’ve attempted to make it easier to discover the stories you enjoy most and to navigate our website to find out what’s making news. We built the Daily Signal more than a decade ago as an alternative to traditional media—and we’ve spent the past two years as an independent organization proving that conservative journalism, done right, can earn the trust of a growing and loyal audience. Our redesign served not only as an opportunity to improve our website experience but also to introduce an updated Daily Signal logo—the first major change since our founding in 2014. A New User Experience The website redesign itself touches virtually every aspect of your experience. The goal was straightforward: make it easier for you to find the news and commentary that matters, on whatever device you’re using, without the friction that plagues so many media websites today. Here’s what’s new: Cleaner experience. The new site features a responsive layout that adapts seamlessly from desktop to tablet to mobile. Whether you’re watching Victor Davis Hanson’s latest video on your phone or catching up on Iran news at your desk, the experience is much improved. Improved navigation. We’ve rebuilt the site architecture from the ground up, with dedicated news and opinion sections, redesigned article pages, and pages for each Daily Signal show. It’s also easier to explore trending news and related content—it’s just a click or two away. Powerful AI search. For the past several months, we’ve partnered with Freespoke to offer AI summaries alongside search results. Finding specific stories is easier, too. We produce a lot of journalism. Now you can actually find it. Better video integration. Our shows and video content are central to our mission, and the new site treats them that way. Whether it’s “The Tony Kinnett Cast” or “Signal Sitdown,” this content is featured prominently on the homepage and better integrated throughout the website. Built to Grow Perhaps most importantly, this platform was designed with scalability in mind—for the expanded original reporting, investigative journalism, and state-level coverage we are actively building. We opened bureaus in Virginia, Ohio, and California with Georgia and Texas next. The new website offers dedicated pages for each state and the infrastructure for more growth in the future. We’ve also invested in accessibility standards and in search-engine optimization, so that more Americans looking for honest, fact-based news can find us. None of this happened overnight. The rebuild required months of planning, designing, development, and testing. We are grateful to everyone involved and to our own staff for their patience and input throughout the process. Our Promise to You A website is only as good as the journalism it publishes. Our promise to you remains exactly what it was the day we launched: We will tell you the truth. We will do the hard reporting that sparks action. We will give you the intel and the insight you need to be an informed citizen in this consequential moment for America. Our website looks different. The mission doesn’t. Welcome to the new DailySignal.com.

The Supreme Court had another 6-3 ruling in deciding that a veteran wounded by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan could sue a military contractor. In an unusual twist, however, the court’s three liberals—Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—joined Justice Clarence Thomas in the majority opinion on Wednesday. The case largely addressed whether government immunity from most lawsuits extends to private companies working for the government. The story behind the case involved former Army Specialist Winston Hencely, who suffered severe brain injuries in 2016 while attempting to stop an Afghan suicide bomber who blew himself up at Bagram Airfield. The bomber was employed by a military contractor. Justice Thomas, in his majority opinion, rejected the “battlefield preemption” argument made by Fluor Intercontinental, a Texas-based military contractor that operated in Afghanistan. “Fluor has not identified any provision of law expressly preempting Hencely’s suit,” Thomas wrote. Conservative-leaning Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett also joined the majority. Dissenting were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh, all conservative-leaning justices appointed by Republican presidents. Hencely was wounded at Bagram when he stopped Ahmad Nayeb, who was wearing a suicide vest, from entering a crowded area. Nayeb blew himself up, killing five people and wounding more than a dozen, the Associated Press reported. He was attempting to detonate the vest at a Veterans Day weekend 5K race on the base. Hencely’s skull was fractured, leaving him with a traumatic brain injury and without full use of the left side of his body. He sued Fluor after an Army investigation faulted the company for failing to properly supervise Nayeb, who built the vest on the job site inside the base, according to court documents. The company argued that it was immune from lawsuits because it was operating during wartime on behalf of the government, which generally has sovereign immunity.

College sports generate excitement and bring communities together in a unique way. They inspire pride in our schools, create lifelong memories, and enable young Americans to pursue education while exceling in sports. But the future of this prized institution is far from guaranteed and requires legislative action to permanently fix long-standing issues. New uncertainties took hold of college sports once student-athletes started profiting from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). States across the country have created conflicting rules regulating NIL, causing confusion among athletes, coaches, and institutions. Without clear guardrails, student-athletes face potential exploitation as they sign lucrative deals. Meanwhile, new financial constraints jeopardize non-revenue sports, especially women’s and Olympic programs. Most notably, the academic identity of college sports is at risk. The lines are increasingly blurred between the court and the classroom, and proposals to deem student-athletes employees of their schools would only complicate matters. Introducing tax, labor, and eligibility issues to athletic departments will not only bring administrative burdens but also disrupt the educational mission of college athletics. So far, temporary fixes—ranging from court orders to executive orders—have done little to protect the integrity of college sports or provide clarity for student-athletes. A long-term solution can only come from federal legislation, and the bipartisan Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act fits the bill. President Donald Trump expressed this sentiment at a recent White House roundtable on college sports: “Only Congress now, it looks like, can deliver a permanent fix.” Along with congressional leaders and conference commissioners, he argued that the SCORE Act can safeguard the future of college athletics through a fair national standard that ends the patchwork of state laws. Also discussed at the roundtable were the comprehensive protections that student-athletes would receive through the bill. More than half a million young people participate in college sports every year, and enhancing their athletic and academic experience is a positive investment in our country’s future leaders. The SCORE Act includes financial literacy resources, mental health care, and scholarship protections. It also ensures schools subsidize the diversity of sports programs that make college athletics so varied and unique.    An unfair criticism raised by opponents of the bill relates to a purported lack of input and support from student-athletes. That could not be further from the truth: besides the fact the bill prioritizes student-athletes’ well-being, multiple college athletes have testified before congressional committees emphatically supporting the SCORE Act. Student-athletes have been clear from the outset: if passed, this bill would enshrine fair competition and keep education at the forefront of college athletics. Consider the congressional letter of support from Brendan Belz, a former men’s lacrosse student-athlete at the University of Utah: “[The SCORE Act] will not only protect today’s athletes but also safeguard the dreams and opportunities of future generations.” Likewise, at a House subcommittee hearing last year, former University of North Florida swimmer Ashley Cozad called the bill a boon for student-athletes like her, creating an environment “where we could all capitalize equally.” The real danger to student-athletes is inaction, which is why Congress must pass the SCORE Act. As our country celebrates its 250th anniversary, let’s not forget how essential college sports are to our civic life: they instill noble virtues in young Americans and unite communities around shared loyalties. We are the only country with a system allowing athletes not to have to choose between a world-class education and elite athletic competition. Let’s strengthen this uniquely American system so that student-athletes can continue to thrive and make us proud. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.