For more than six decades, Art Garfunkel’s voice has been inseparable from the American experience.
He sang about restless generations, fractured friendships, loneliness, hope and the uncertain promise of the nation itself. But now, at 84, the Grammy-winning music legend says Donald Trump’s presidency has left him considering a step that once might have seemed unimaginable.
He may leave the United States.
“I don’t like America’s position at all,” Garfunkel said in a striking new interview. “I’m not aboard, and I’m thinking of leaving the country, frankly.”
The declaration came not from a young activist trying to command attention but from one of America’s most enduring cultural figures—a performer whose delicate voice helped create some of the most beloved recordings of the 20th century.
A devastating verdict on Trump’s America
Speaking with The Guardian, Garfunkel made clear that his frustration extends beyond ordinary partisan disagreement.
He expressed alarm over climate change, global hunger and what he views as an increasingly dangerous approach to American power abroad. Trump’s actions involving Venezuela appeared to be especially disturbing to him.
Garfunkel questioned whether the world had entered an era in which powerful countries could simply seize control of other nations and begin running them.
To the singer, the implications were frightening.
“It’s shocking,” he said.
His comments arrive during a period of extraordinary political upheaval and international uncertainty. Garfunkel, a longtime liberal who previously supported political figures including Bernie Sanders, portrayed Trump’s leadership as part of a wider moral crisis rather than merely a dispute over policy.
He spoke about a warming planet, rising water and people continuing to starve—human problems that, in his view, demand seriousness and compassion.
Instead, he sees unpredictability.
The voice that once sang “America”
There is an unmistakable irony in Garfunkel contemplating departure from the country he once serenaded so beautifully.
As one-half of Simon & Garfunkel, he helped transform folk rock and define the sound of a generation. Alongside Paul Simon, he recorded classics including “The Sound of Silence,” “Mrs. Robinson,” “The Boxer,” “Scarborough Fair” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
The duo’s 1968 song “America” became an enduring portrait of young people searching for meaning across an enormous and complicated country.
Garfunkel’s soaring vocals brought a sense of vulnerability to songs that could otherwise have been overwhelmed by their own ambition. His voice sounded fragile yet certain, capable of transforming private sorrow into something universal.
Across his solo work and collaborations, he received eight Grammy Awards, including recognition through the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
His career made him a symbol of American artistic achievement. That is precisely why his suggestion that he could leave carries such emotional force.
This is not simply another celebrity announcing opposition to a president. It is an artist who has spent his life exploring America’s soul now openly questioning whether he still feels at home inside it.
A complicated reconciliation
Garfunkel’s interview also arrived during a remarkable new chapter in his personal and professional life.
His relationship with Paul Simon has been famously turbulent. The two men grew up together, created musical history and then spent decades drifting between reunions and bitter estrangement.
Their creative chemistry produced timeless work, but their personal relationship was frequently strained by competition, resentment and unresolved wounds.
In 2025, the childhood friends reportedly reconciled after years apart. The reunion was deeply emotional, though it did not instantly erase the complications of their history.
At 84, Garfunkel appears increasingly interested in confronting the unfinished business of his life. He has returned to performing after years away from major touring and is preparing to bring his What a Wonderful World concerts to audiences across several countries.
His schedule includes performances in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan—a global journey that may feel especially significant as he questions his future in the country where his story began.
One remaining source of hope
Despite his bleak assessment, Garfunkel has not surrendered entirely to despair.
He acknowledged that presidencies end, political eras eventually pass and even the most dominant leaders cannot remain in power forever. His answer to the fear surrounding Trump was simple: Americans must continue hoping.
That message echoes the emotional tension that has defined so much of his music.
Garfunkel has always sounded most powerful when standing between sorrow and consolation. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” did not deny pain; it promised that someone could help carry another person through it.
Now, the singer appears to be searching for such a bridge himself.
He has not announced a destination, a moving date or a definitive decision to abandon the United States. His remarks describe serious consideration, not a completed plan.
But the fact that an artist so deeply connected to American cultural history is even imagining departure is a dramatic statement on its own.
Art Garfunkel once helped generations of listeners search for America.
Under Donald Trump, he is beginning to wonder whether he must search for somewhere else.
