Trump's DJ Spin
On campaign music, and whatever that was...
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It’s getting odd in here…
This is not the most important topic right now. You can definitely go read about weightier issues.
But seeing Donald Trump cancel most of his Monday town hall so he could play his favorite songs on stage… it was a sight to behold. If you didn’t stumble upon video of this episode, it’s hard to capture. The Washington Post went with this headline:
Other headlines focused on the “odd,” “strange” spectacle of it all. Town halls and rallies are usually aimed at conveying a campaign’s message beyond the room. Trump seemed to give up on that goal, and just “jam out,” while attendees watched. Many left early.
Play that Trumpy music…
The songs were drawn from Trump’s rally music, an eclectic mix that ranges from rock to classical. Trump is also known to “DJ” his own playlists at Mar a Lago. Maybe someday he will be available for weddings.
Trump’s rally DJ’ing drew attention, and ridicule, because it was unusual, indulgent, and a detour from the promised event programming. Some critics viewed it as erratic. All fair.
It also links with something I’ve been thinking about exploring in this newsletter:
In American politics, music is more than a way to pass time at rallies. Campaigns tap music for critical messaging and channeling the nation’s mood.
Sometimes it works to crystalize an argument even better than words — other times, it can be unintentionally revealing.
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Trump is actually more attentive to music than many candidates, who defer to consultants on music for ads and rallies. This fits with his general marketing fixation on emotion, mood and image over, say, policy.
If politics is a “show” to him, shows need theme music. (“The Apprentice’s” opening music was The O'Jays "For the Love of Money," because of course.)
The first Trump rally I covered was in 2016 in New Hampshire (pic at the end). The crowd seemed curious about this unusual candidate, and initially, even hesitant about how to engage in a political rally. It certainly didn’t look like the “typical crowd” at a Republican event. The music, however, set a tone. The Rolling Stones' “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” blared, a song that is a familiar comfort, but also a pretty plaintive anthem. Trump leans towards tracks that toggle between patriotic gusto and pining for a ‘lost’ greatness or innocence…. which fits his whole message (whether you agree with it or not).
He has played Springsteen’s ‘Born in the U.S.A’ (actually an American critique); Queen's "We Are the Champions" (upbeat, but still pugnacious), Elton John's "Rocket Man" (sad, nostalgic), and "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood, who performed at the RNC this summer.
Trump repeatedly plays songs without the required permission, which can spark the kind of clashes most politicians want to avoid with artists and their fans. For Trump, that may be partly the general habit of stealing, and partly the defiant “rule breaking” image he cultivates, like some kind of pro-wrestling bad boy.
On Monday, Trump danced to “‘Y.M.C.A.,” a song that even he knows celebrates LGBTQ pride. (It jovially touts cruising YMCAs as a way to find fellow gay men.) Trump clearly doesn’t see a “tension” between that and his policies, because honesty and consistency have never been part of his messaging.
Trump famously plagiarized the “Make America Great Again” slogan from Reagan. About 36 years separated their campaigns, so that was just shameless copying of something vaguely familiar. It worked. Just like barely “remixing” an old, beloved song can be heralded as a new hit.
Oldies
“Trump’s pop-culture touchstones are generally also decades-old,” notes The Washington Post, which analyzed Monday’s rally songs and found:
On average, they came out 36 years ago, just after the median American was born.
So on the one hand, LOL. That’s a pretty antiquated mood for the older candidate.
On the other hand, that’s Trump’s whole message. Things have gone downhill. Let’s go back to when things were great. When America had glory… And all the implied or stated discrimination of that era.
It’s certainly a long ways from Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign anthem, a Fleetwood Mac hit with that classic refrain, “Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.”
Both those campaigns’ musical themes address a nation upset with today - Trump vowing to somehow restore a lost past; Clinton promised a better future than that year’s recession. That Clinton approach echoed FDR’s 1932 campaign theme song looking past the depression to imagine “happy days again, skies above clear again.”
After Clinton’s 1992 win, Fleetwood Mac even reunited to perform at his inaugural ball.
That appearance also shows the interplay between campaigns tapping artists’ creations, and artists sometimes creating to advance campaigns. A candidate can’t just call top artists, and demand a new hit song for the general election.
But sometimes it happens organically.
Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign benefitted from an unlikely hit by Will.i.am, "Yes We Can.”
It dropped early in the primary, when many still saw Clinton as a frontrunner, and voters were still learning about this new, hopeful candidate. Here’s an account from that week:
The ‘song’ was essentially written by Barack Obama, since the lyrics are adapted from his "Yes We Can" speech after the New Hampshire primary. That speech, of course, was inspired by Cesar Chavez's motto for a United Farm Workers hunger strike in 1972. There's no telling if this video will catch on, but musicians have turned political speeches into popular songs before. The most famous example is Haile Selassie's 1963 address to the UN, which Bob Marley put to music in the song xi
The music video did catch on, going viral and drawing national coverage. (The quote is from a piece I wrote in February 2008, time flies!).
Obama was a magnet for cultural and musical energy, something we probably haven’t seen since Harris’s late entry into this race, as I covered in my Oct. 6 newsletter. With all respect for classic songs Trump played, or Fleetwood Mac reunions, there is also more heat when a candidate is embraced by current artists at the top of the charts.
Harris is tapping that with nods from charli XCX, Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift, Obama had contemporary chart-toppers like Jay-Z and Jeezy, who collaborated on an anthem for Obama’s victory, “My President is Black.” That song even hit the BillBoard Rap Tracks Top 20 that year.
One of Obama’s top rally songs was “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” which built on his optimistic message while broadly embracing a civil rights figure who overcame his own adversity, Stevie Wonder.
Keep Running
Harris is now using Beyonce’s “Freedom,” (with permission), one of the only ways her campaign directly nods to the barrier breaking candidacy of a Black woman, while also tapping the much broader appeal of freedom and rights versus government crackdowns. Her lyrics are clear and strong:
Freedom, where are you?
Cause I need freedom, too
I break chains all by myself
Won't let my freedom rot in hell
Hey, I'ma keep running
Cause a winner don't quit on themselves
Some people watch the party conventions, listen to Harris’s speeches, or study her string of news interviews. Others can get the message through music and culture, which usually reach more people than politics.
This whole campaign could boil down to a question anyone can understand: Do you want more oldies, or some new hits?
I’m doing a Zoom Q & A with full subscribers this Tuesday, Oct 22 at 9pm ET. You can subscribe to learn more and join. Basically, I take questions from readers and chat. I promise I will not abandon the Q&A time to just play music : )
Do you think campaign music has an impact? What are your favorite song from politics or protest music? Tell me in the comments and I’ll reply to some..
Ari, let’s address the elephant in the room: Trump was sweating and slurring his words, not effectively answering questions. The music was his only option to protect his medical issues. He crumbled.
So, why not look at his physical presence and consider how effective he would be as a world leader. He won’t be able to deflect away from his weaknesses then.
The other song from the Obama inauguration ball that stays with me is At Last sung by Beyoncé. But for drump to have played Time to Say Goodbye is epic