Bono believes the Republican Party has been “hijacked” by the Donald Trump administration, but says that doesn’t reflect conservatives as a whole, whom he wants to welcome back to U2‘s fanbase. The singer discussed the subject in an interview with David Marchese of The New York Times, conducted alongside The Edge as the band marks its 50th anniversary.
“I think this is a most extraordinary moment,” he said. “I think this is the greatest heist in the history of the world — stealing America.” He added: “It’s not a caper movie. It’s real and it’s happening.” According to Far Out, the remark came as he discussed the foreign aid cuts carried out by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the cost-cutting body led by Elon Musk. Bono, who co-founded the African health-focused nonprofit ONE in 2004, called those decisions “unconscionable.”
Marchese asked whether the protest-song feel and defiant joy of U2‘s new album were a way of balancing criticism of Trump with holding on to fans. Bono said he doesn’t want to put off “good people who vote conservative, who vote Republican,” because, in his view, “their party’s been hijacked.” “I want to invite them back,” he said. “I want them to return.” He argued that people vote conservative for all kinds of legitimate reasons. According to Consequence, he also said the band’s aim isn’t to find a middle road but to pick its battles, and that discussion of the current administration should be kept separate from the debate between liberals and conservatives.
The interview arrives ahead of ‘Carnaval de Luz’, U2‘s 16th album and their first set of new original songs since ‘Songs of Experience’ (2017), due Nov. 13. Its 12 tracks include ‘The Mirror Maker’, featuring Rosalía, and ‘Torn’, featuring Dolly Parton, and it has been previewed with the singles ‘Street of Dreams’, ‘Silencio’ and ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’. The video for ‘Street of Dreams’, released in July, was shot in Mexico City’s Plaza de Santo Domingo during a visit in which the band attended the 2026 Street Child World Cup. The band also issued two EPs this year: ‘Days of Ash’ in February and ‘Easter Lily’ in April.
The album lends its name to the ‘Carnaval de Luz Presents: The Greatest Show on Earth World Tour’, a stadium run that opens with two nights at Mexico City’s Estadio GNP Seguros on Feb. 23 and 26, 2027, with Beck as the opening night’s guest, according to U2.com. It continues to São Paulo’s Estádio MorumBIS on March 10 and 12 and Buenos Aires’ Estadio River Plate on March 23 and 25. European and North American dates are still to be announced. In a statement, the band called the tour’s title “a dare, to ourselves as much as anyone, to try and have the best night of anybody’s life.”
U2, formed in Dublin in 1976 by Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr., mark half a century together this year. Before ‘Carnaval de Luz’, their most recent releases were ‘Songs of Surrender’ (2023), a collection of re-recorded catalog songs, and ‘How to Re-Assemble an Atomic Bomb’ (2024), made up of tracks left off ‘How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb’ (2004).