Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump turned a town hall in Pennsylvania into a concert on Monday, singing along and dancing for nearly 40 minutes while his favourite hits played on stage.
“Turn it up. Great song,” Trump told supporters at a cavernous expo centre in suburban Philadelphia as Jeff Buckley’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” blared from the speakers.
“How about this: We’ll play ‘YMCA,’” he said at another point to cheering supporters as the Village People song, a Trump crowd favourite, started up.
Trump initially took several questions from attendees in the audience about affordable housing and the economy but seemed to grow bored with the format after two people fainted in the audience, causing lengthy interruptions in the program.
“Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music,” Trump said, directing his staff to play “a couple of really beauties.”
“Who the hell wants to hear questions?” he added.
After dedicating Schubert’s “Ave Maria” to the father of a service member who died in Iraq, Trump then decided to keep the music going, swaying on stage and fist-pumping to supporters while songs from Sinead O’Connor, Elvis Presley, Guns N’ Roses and others played.
“Nothing compares to you,” Trump mouthed to the crowd as O’Connor’s haunting vocals on “Nothing Compares 2 U” rang out in the room and her music video played on the screens.
A staffer walked up to Trump at one point and handed him a card. The former president pointed at it and nodded approvingly; a new song selection appeared to have been made. Then, seconds later, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” a song popular among conservatives but described by singer Oliver Anthony as criticism of all politicians, riled up the crowd.
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung gushed over his boss on X, formerly Twitter, calling him “unlike any politician in history.”
During the Q&A portion of the event, Trump was asked by a pair of supporters how he planned to make housing more affordable and how he would provide relief to small-business owners. Both times he answered by touting his plans to cut energy costs.
“We’re going to drill, baby, drill,” Trump said. “We’re going to get the energy down. When the energy comes down, prices are going to come down.”
At the other end of the state, at a rally in Erie, his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, played clips of Trump’s comments over the weekend in which he suggested that the military should handle his political opponents if there is unrest after the November election results come in.
“Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged,” Harris said to supporters. “He is out for unchecked power. That is what he is looking for. He wants to send the military after American citizens.”