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Trump’s town hall ends with an elaborate ‘musical celebration’ while he’s on stage: NPR
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Trump’s town hall ends with an elaborate ‘musical celebration’ while he’s on stage: NPR

In this photo, former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, holds a town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania on October 14. He is wearing a suit, smiling and has his eyes closed.

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, will hold a town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania on October 14.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images


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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A Trump town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania, on Monday evening went from a question and answer session to a bizarre musical event in which Trump stood in front of his audience for extended periods of time as songs played on the sound system.

The town hall portion of the event lasted nearly an hour and was moderated by Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota, who is a Trump ally.

The questioners were all friendly to Trump, asking about how he would reduce inflation and boost small businesses.

The town hall was paused twice due to incidents involving crowds calling for a medic. Onlookers shouted that the room was too hot.

While medics tended to people affected by the heat, Trump and Noem waited on stage. During the first intermission, the audience sang together “God Bless America,” after which Trump asked someone to put the song “Ave Maria” on the sound system. Soon an instrumental version started playing.

Shortly after the town hall started again, there was another call for a medic.

“It’s steaming in here!” a man screamed as they waited for help, and the instrumental Ave Maria played again, until the stricken woman received help.

Trump joked about the heat in the room: “Personally, I’m enjoying this. We’re losing weight. We could do this, lose four, five pounds.”

Trump then called for his “favorite map” to be put on screens — the map of border crossings that had been displayed in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 when a would-be assassin shot at Trump, hitting his ear. In addition, he asked someone to play a version of “Ave Maria”, sung by Luciano Pavarotti.

‘We’re going to make some music. Let’s make it a musical celebration,” he said.

Trump remained on stage until the song was over, at which point he stopped the question-and-answer portion of the evening.

‘Let’s not ask any more questions. Let’s just listen to music,” he said.

Later, Trump asked the crowd to stick around.

“Besides, when we leave, you don’t have to go so fast. You can sit down and listen. We’ll play a few songs. Some of you will be a little warm, but that’s okay. It’s not a bad thing. And if you want, we’ll do that, but I think it would be wonderful, don’t you?

“I think it would be great, sir,” Noem said.

“Nice to have your imagination – isn’t it nice to have imagination?”

Trump remained on stage for more than half an hour as a series of songs were played, including “Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright, and “November Rain” by Guns N’ Roses.

On Tuesday, Trump called the evening “amazing” on his Truth Social account.

“The question and answer was almost over when people fainted from the excitement and heat,” he said. “While we waited, we started playing music and kept going. So different, but it ended up being a GREAT NIGHT!”

The town hall came with three weeks left in the voting season and most polls show Trump and Vice President Harris remaining statistically tied. Both candidates deliver their closing messages and contrast their rival as they cross the United States. Trump will deliver remarks on the economy in Chicago on Tuesday and will pre-record a town hall with female voters on Fox News that airs on Wednesday. Harris is doing a town hall with popular radio host Charlamagne tha God in her effort to reach black male voters.