The first casualty was an inconvenience that held Donald Trump back for a minute or two while he answered questions mid-flight about housing prices, the border and small businesses.
By the time the second person collapsed in the heat of the crowded exhibit hall, the former president knew he had a problem. A few people at the back of the room were walking towards the exit and he knew he had to stir up the crowd. It was time for plan B.
“Let’s ask no more questions,” Trump told his audience in suburban Philadelphia. “Let’s just listen to music.”
First came Ave Marie, Schubert’s masterpiece that is a favorite at weddings and funerals, while Trump took center stage and looked forward to the middle distance.
Then came Pavarotti and James Brown. And finally, inevitably, the villagers sing ‘YMCA’
Donald Trump left his town hall with South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to play music after two people fell ill at the event in suburban Philadelphia
It reminded us that Trump is one of the most unpredictable politicians on the circuit.
And for his critics, a sign that politics may always have been secondary to the show.
It wasn’t meant to be. Monday night’s event was billed as a “town hall” and a chance for Trump to answer questions about the economy from voters who could determine the outcome of the entire election.
But after South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem playfully chaired the question and answer session for just 32 minutes, he was warned of a commotion in the crowd.
“A doctor please,” Trump said.
The crowd fell silent as a medic continued their work.
“This is a bit of a difficult issue,” Trump said, looking down from the podium with concern.
A few minutes later, after an audience member named Heather managed to ask a question about the border, a second person became ill. The people around her waved their campaign signs like fans.
With another pause in the proceedings, the people at the back of the crowded and overheated room saw their opportunity and began streaming toward the exit.
“While we wait… So we had a beautiful evening, and I don’t know if they could play this song quickly, but if they could work backstage real quickly while we were waiting… Ave Maria,” Trump said , explaining that it provided a magical moment during his meeting in Butler a week ago.
“If you can get it, Justin, let’s go.”
Noem didn’t know what to do at first, but soon got into the swing of things
It was YMCA, from the Village People, that really got everyone excited
He ordered his staff to put up his “favorite map” (which shows the blue and yellow spikes of illegal immigration and which he credits with saving him from an assassin’s bullets) and so it was that Trump created a makeshift organized a music festival.
There was Ave Maria, first a wordless version, much to Trump’s dismay, and then one with Pavarotti.
At one point, an assistant appeared next to him with a piece of paper, allowing Trump to play DJ by selecting an analog-style playlist: Guns N Rose’s “November Rain” and “Memory” from the show Cats were featured.
And then it was one of Trump’s favorite songs of all time: “It’s a Man’s World,” featuring Pavarotti and James Brown.
Trump waved slightly to the middle distance as Noem clasped her hands at her sides. When she wondered what was going on, the crowd didn’t care: it was all smiles and cheers, waving red MAGA hats in the air.
Once a showman, Trump now had to figure out how to get off stage.
“We can ask a few more questions, if you want…you’ll probably want to do one,” he said doubtfully.
‘But it ends so beautifully. How about this? We’re playing YMCA… but listen, whatever you can do, get out there. We have to win. This is important.’
This was not how the evening should have gone. And Trump has at least thought about rallying the troops.
“If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing,” he said.
An assistant appeared with a list of songs, including ‘November Rain’, ‘Memory’ from the show Cats and ‘Point of no Return’
The event was billed as a ‘town hall’ – it turned into a music festival
The crowd lapped it up, knowing they were getting a unique Trump moment
As the Village People’s signature disco tunes played, Trump and Noem turned into crazed teenagers, throwing shapes as the remnants of the crowd joined in or drifted away.
Even given Trump’s own warped standard for campaign events, this was an odd standard. He suggested that his answer to lowering house prices was to ‘drill a baby drill’; went on a digression about why he liked to talk about the “late great” Hannibal Lecter (“because he was a sick puppy – and there are a lot of sick puppies coming into the country”); and he promised to end the war in Ukraine “while he is elected,” all during the normal part of the event.
Still, Trump can’t afford to waste time in Pennsylvania.
Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in Erie at the same time, as both campaigns make the Keystone State their number one priority.
A survey by JL Partners for DailyMail.com showed on Sunday that the race could not be more exciting.
The two candidates each have 47 percent of the votes.
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Fans lined up for hours Monday afternoon to get a spot at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center and Fairgrounds to hear Trump
There was only room in the exhibition hall as thousands of people poured in
And our election model predicts that Pennsylvania will likely be the tipping point: Whoever wins here will be on track to win the 270 Electoral College votes they need to claim the White House.
Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the state eight years ago by more than 40,000 votes. But it returned to the Democrats in 2020, when local native Joe Biden defeated Trump by about 80,000 votes.
Both parties pour time, money and bodies into the state, while leaving nothing to change.
Trump ally Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has taken up residence in Pittsburgh as his US Political Action Committee picks up some of the Republican ground game.
Rich Landis, 75, who mows lawns for a living, said it all has to do with the economy of the state’s voters.
“I have to buy so much gas it’s killing me, on top of everything else,” he said.
“It’s about how many businesses are closing in our region?”
In the meantime, all he hears from Harris is that he can be satisfied with the way the country is developing.
‘All I hear are lies. “Some are Republican lies, but most are Democratic,” he said.
‘They tell me the borders are closed. They tell me the economy is great. Yes, right!’
Pennsylvania has more electoral votes, 19, than any of the other six battleground states. And so voters have enjoyed an inordinate amount of attention with 46 stops from the two candidates, according to a tally kept by the Associated Press.
President Joe Biden will attend a fundraiser in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Harris is back in the state on Wednesday and Senator JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, has two events in Pennsylvania during the week.