Former President Trump stood and swayed to music for 39 minutes Monday after cutting off questions from supporters in an awkward end to a town hall in suburban Philadelphia.
The Republican nominee unnerved some journalists and attendees by standing on stage and bopping around during the odd and extended session at which he called on the DJ to play tunes from the likes of James Brown and opera great Luciano Pavarotti.
“I have probably been to 100 rallies, give or take. Have never seen anything like tonight,” tweeted Rob Crilly, a veteran political reporter with the conservative-leaning Daily Mail paper.
Trump’s campaign quickly pushed back on any suggestion that there was anything wrong with the former president.
Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s national press secretary, posted more than a dozen times about the event, apparently seeking to portray it as normal.
Steven Cheung, another Trump spokesperson, tweeted in real time that “something very special is happening in Pennsylvania.” Suggesting Trump intentionally planned the musical interlude, he added that Trump “is unlike any politician in history, and it’s great.”
When President Biden was still in the race, Trump and his supporters would regularly post clips, sometimes doctored, of Biden appearing to act in strange ways or walking the wrong direction as evidence of his age and unfitness for office.
The incident took place as Trump is locked in a neck-and-neck battle with Democrat Kamala Harris. Polls show the two candidates in a virtual dead heat, although some surveys give Harris a razor-thin edge in several of the seven battleground states that will determine the White House winner.
The episode came at the end of a fairly brief question-and-answer session moderated by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
Two people in the crowd suffered medical emergencies and required treatment, causing brief pauses, an occurrence that has regularly punctuated campaign events by candidates from both parties.
Once Noem announced the second person was up and moving, Trump spoke for a few more minutes before calling for music to be played, as many in the crowd lingered, unsure whether the event was over.
“Those two people who went down are patriots,” Trump said after the music. “We love them. And because of them, we ended up with some great music, right?”
Trump suggested they could wrap up the evening with the audience in their seats, enjoying some musical selections rather than hearing him answer more questions.
“Who needs questions?” he asked.
He called for the Village People’s “YMCA” and it blasted through the loudspeakers, a song that normally serves as Trump’s walk-off anthem. But this time, he remained onstage.
Many of his supporters made their way to the exits, but some stayed through the end. Finally, after nearly 40 minutes, Trump left the stage as “Memory” from the Broadway musical “Cats” played.
