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Former President Donald Trump turned a town hall event in front of supporters in Pennsylvania into a bizarre music party on Monday night, playing a schizophrenic mix of songs for 40 minutes while he swayed and bee-bopped his hands like a Vegas showgirl.

The show had to be paused for a while as staff attended to two different medical emergencies, and Trump grabbed the opportunity to avoid all those pesky questions and play his mixtape (or at least the songs he is still allowed to play at his rallies/assassination attempts).

The event was meant to be a Q&A focused on Trump’s policy platform, but he told the crowd: “Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music. Let’s make it into our music.”

“Who the hell wants to hear questions? Right?”

Trump might not, although some people might have wanted to ask a few. But the Republican carnival can’t get any weirder, so The Don directed the DJ to drop Pavarotti’s ‘Ave Maria’ as a modest but banging opener.

Swaying along and occasionally punching the air, the presidential hopeful followed this up with the Village People’s ‘YMCA’, Sinead O’Connor’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ and ‘Memory’, from the musical Cats.

 

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Imagine 40 minutes of that. Republican campaign spokesman Steven Cheung was quick on damage control, saying on X that the event showed “something special” was happening.

“@realDonaldTrump is unlike any politician in history, and it’s great.”

Is it really, Steven? According to NBC News, there also appeared to be considerable misunderstanding about when, or if, the event would end. At one point, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem asked Trump, “Do you want to play your song and then greet a few people?”

Unfazed by several of the 6,000 attendees heading for the exits, Trump replied, “How about a couple of real beauties, and we’ll sit down and relax,” before unleashing an assault on Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden, emphasising the importance of winning Pennsylvania next month.

“Keep going? Keep going? Should we keep going? All right turn that music up, great song.”

Democratic nominee Kamala Harris wasn’t feeling the groove and said on her campaign’s X account that Trump rambled and “looked confused” on stage during the event.

Tonight, Donald Trump:

—Told his supporters to go out and vote on “January 5th”
—Rambled about Hannibal Lecter, a cannibal serial killer who is not real
—Acted confused when asked if they should end the event and play a walk off song
—Stood frozen and silent on stage as music… pic.twitter.com/qQcBewr1Iu

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 15, 2024

The Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung was still on point though and responded by saying the former president “has more energy and more stamina than anyone in politics, and is the smartest leader this country has ever seen.”

“He does multiple public events every single day and the public can see he is sharper and more focused than ever before because the future of America is at stake.”

Attendees seemed to have enjoyed the show, even if they didn’t get to ask more questions about what the future of America might look like.

“It was my first Trump rally. It was a town hall, and I just think I did expect him to take more questions. I thought he would talk longer,” said Janice Bauer, who is in her 60s and lives in Montgomery County. “I still will vote for him. I think he’s a very good candidate. And I — the concert was great,” she added.

A national NBC poll put Trump and Harris neck and neck among registered voters, with three weeks to go until Election Day.

Good luck America.

[source:nbc]