According to The Guardian, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spent 40 minutes swaying to his favorite songs like YMCA and Ave Maria at a campaign rally near Philadelphia on October 14, causing Democratic candidate Kamala Harris to express concern about his mental state.
“Hope he’s OK,” Ms Harris wrote on X, along with footage of the performance that many observers agreed was bizarre, even by Mr Trump’s standards.
A random music festival in the Pennsylvania suburb of Oaks was canceled after two concertgoers at the indoor event fainted, apparently due to the hot weather.
When Mr Trump asked for air conditioning, the event's moderator, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, jokingly alluded to high inflation: "Maybe they can't afford it, sir, in this economy."
Then Mr. Trump decided to change course.
"Let's not ask any more questions. Let's just listen to music. Let's make it music. Who wants to hear questions, right?" - Mr. Trump said.
The nine-song set list included Trump's signature favorites like James Brown's It's A Man's Man's Man's World, Village People's YMCA, Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares 2 U and Luciano Pavarotti's Ave Maria, all of which played as Trump stood in the middle of the stage swaying or dancing gently.
“The two men who fell were patriots,” Mr. Trump concluded. “We love them. And because of them, we had some great music, right?”
Mr Trump’s use of music has been criticised. A long list of artists – including Celine Dion, Abba, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen – have either denounced or taken legal action to prevent the Trump campaign from playing their songs at rallies.
On October 15, Rufus Wainright responded to Mr. Trump's use of the singer's cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at a campaign rally by writing on Instagram that he was "very embarrassed." Wainwright had said before the 2016 US presidential election that he would not sing the song again unless Donald Trump lost.
