President Trump is once again proving that no one can work a rally crowd quite like he can — and this time, the punchline involved disco music, Melania, and what he cheekily dubbed the “gay national anthem.”
At a packed campaign-style rally in Suffern, New York, on Friday night, Trump veered off-script in classic Trump fashion, boasting that his use of The Village People’s iconic hit “Y.M.C.A.” may have helped him outperform past Republicans with gay voters. Because of course he did.
The president, campaigning alongside Rep. Mike Lawler, bounced from football to first lady impressions to LGBTQ voting patterns in a rambling, crowd-pleasing monologue that had supporters roaring.
Trump had first welcomed New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart to the stage, marveling over the athlete’s build in the sort of freewheeling commentary that sends media pearl-clutchers into cardiac arrest. “I’m looking at the legs,” Trump said. “He’s this beautiful guy. He’s got legs like tree trunks!”
But the biggest laugh of the night came later, when Trump launched into a story about Melania Trump supposedly begging him to tone down some of his trademark rally material.
“[S]he says, ‘Darling, please, you speak so beautifully, would you do me a favor? Don’t do the swimming story. Don’t do the weight-lifting story. It’s so damn unpresidential. And also, darling, when you’re leaving, and they have that song, gay national anthem,’” Trump told the crowd, mimicking the first lady’s accent for effect.
“That’s why I did so well with the gay vote, I think, because of that song,” Trump quipped. “I did great with the gay vote, better than any Republican’s ever done by far, but my wife, first lady, very elegant woman.”
Cue the outrage cycle in 3…2…1.
Trump has long used “Y.M.C.A.” as his rally walk-off music, complete with his now-famous dance moves — the same moves late-night comedians mock relentlessly while secretly praying he never stops doing them because the clips print ratings.
And according to Trump, Melania still can’t stand it. At another rally earlier this month, the president said, “She hates when I dance, too, at the end. She hates when I dance to what’s sometimes referred to as the gay national anthem. You know that? She hates it.”
The irony, of course, is that Trump’s relationship with gay voters has always scrambled the neat little narratives political operatives and media pundits prefer to sell. While Democrats still dominate among LGBTQ voters overall, Trump has consistently performed better with some segments of those voters than establishment Republicans of previous decades — particularly among working-class men frustrated with progressive culture politics.
Exit polling from the 2024 election suggested Trump captured roughly 12% of LGBTQ voters nationwide — hardly a majority, but enough to spark chatter inside Republican circles about whether the GOP is quietly broadening its coalition while Democrats drift further into activist orthodoxy. Trump thinks the answer might just be disco.
Trump says his wife has asked him to stop dancing to the “gay national anthem”
“That’s why I did so well with the gay vote, I think, because of that song” pic.twitter.com/1zBobaLDKU
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 22, 2026
