Former President Donald Trump abruptly ended a question-and-answer session at a town hall event in Pennsylvania on Monday to listen to music for nearly 40 minutes.
The rally began unraveling after an attendee in the crowd fainted due to the heat, prompting event organizers to play music while medical professionals attended to the matter.
The song, an instrumental version of Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” drew praise from Trump as he stood next to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) on stage.
“It’s so beautiful, though, right? Listen to that. It’s nice,” Trump said. “He’s gonna be okay, we have nice music, we’re together, not bad.”
Yet once the questions resumed, another member of the audience fainted. After jokingly asking whether anyone else would “like to faint,” Trump decided to end the questioning all altogether and instead turn the rally into “a musical fest.”
For the next 39 minutes, Trump danced and clapped on stage to an array of songs, including Andrea Bocelli’s “Time to Say Goodbye,” James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” and The Village People’s “YMCA.”
Other notable tunes were Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” Elvis Presley’s “An American Trilogy,” and Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain.”
At some point during the rally, according to his teleprompter, Trump was even asked to answer two more questions before switching to music.
The display was met with widespread confusion online and was quickly seized upon by Trump’s opponents, who argued that the former president’s behavior was indicative of mental decline.
Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted the incident, writing on X that she hoped Trump was “okay.”
While the impromptu song and dance session appeared to appeal to at least some in the crowd, others, according to the Washington Post, left the rally.
Despite the criticism, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung described the town hall as a “total lovefest.”
“Nobody wanted to leave and wanted to hear more songs from the famous DJT Spotify playlist!” Cheung said.
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