The Opinions - Trump Picks His Own Rally Music. What Is He Trying to Say?

Episode Date: September 9, 2024

Songs from Luciano Pavarotti, Sinead O’Connor and “Cats” may not strike you as typical campaign music, but they’re on repeat at Donald Trump’s political rallies. The staff editor Katherine Miller has spent a lot of time at Trump rallies, and in this episode, she takes listeners on a tour of the unusual — and often subversive — soundtrack the former president curates for his campaign events. Thoughts? Questions? Email us at [e-mail]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is The Opinions, a show that brings you a mix of voices from New York Times opinion. You've heard the news. Here's what to make of it. I'm Catherine Miller. I'm a writer and editor in the opinion section. I cover politics. I go on the campaign trail quite a bit. I know a lot of people aren't in the weeds on this stuff. I'm so in the weeds. I've got like a magnifying glass out and I'm maybe too focused on the weeds. but when you've been to so many campaign events and you've seen different candidates,

the differences in their choices really stand out. Politicians use music at rallies to create the sort of vibe and ambiance in the room for people waiting to see them. And it's like what the mood you're going to be in when you see that politician. It's interesting what songs become kind of popular campaign hits. They're often kind of nostalgic.

upbeat songs that might remind you of happy times in your life. I went to some of the Joe Biden events in 2020. The new to hear Gladys Night and the Pips. The Supremes, that kind of music. People might remember Elizabeth Warren coming on stage to 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton, Hillary Clinton, coming on stage to fight song. Kamala Harris, in her 2020 campaign, she was Mary J. Blige as her walk-on song.

This time she's using freedom by Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar. It's supposed to make you feel like you're at something and you're having a good time. But it's a little different at Trump events. Rallies are so central to how he views himself in a lot of ways as a political figure that what happens at them is of note. So when you go to a Trump rally, and I've been to four in the last year in Iowa, in Pennsylvania, and in Virginia, The experience is a lot of waiting. You'll often be waiting to hear speakers on stage. And those will be local politicians, maybe a governor, that sort of thing.

The music is just blasting. People are dancing sort of sometimes or singing along to the songs or just having a conversation in waiting. And because it is this all-day experience, basically, the music really takes an outsize perspective in what it's like to actually be. out of Trump probably. And Trump himself picks a lot of the songs. One of his staffers, Max Miller, Trump used to call him the music man. Trump would hum a few bars of music, and Max Miller would be able to identify the song. In 2016, he would play as his outro music when he walked off stage.

You can't always get what you want by the Rolling Stones. This is a song about, you can't always get what you want, but you sometimes get what you need. That's the point of the song. It opens with the choral arrangement. which usually you're not hearing a song like that that opens with like the choral arrangement. And the message of the song has always been sort of,

you know, is it a song that Trump just likes? Is it a song that Trump knows you like? The prominent placement of him walking off stage to it and at the 2016 Republican convention after receiving the nomination and speaking, that is what played as the balloons and cavetti drop. As a message to the country, is it like, you're not going to get what you want,

but you might get what you need? Or is it like you're out of luck? to the conservative Republicans who didn't like him at the time. You know, it's an unusual message for a song. So you have to think about it. Like, what is he trying to tell me with the selection of this piece of music?

Trump's taste is pretty wide. He loves cats, the musical, and Pavarotti. And he will play them at his rallies. In New Mexico in 2019, I went to a Trump rally where people were waiting. for him. And so they were doing the wave. And the song by Pavarotti came on. So people were doing

the wave to Pavarotti. With Trump, he treats everything like it's a spectacle and a sort of party. But also there's this kind of aggression in some of the songs that's always been confounding in a certain way, but sort of inherent to the Trump project. A recent example, and this wasn't at a rally, but it is a song he has played at a rally, is it's a man's world. by James Brown, which he played it the night that Nikki Haley lost in South Carolina. It's one of those songs that, it's a man's world, and it's a great song. But like, is it a man's world? Like, it's an unusual message.

These are not, let's get out and dance songs, you know, but they are kind of like late night karaoke songs in a certain way. That's what's been kind of interesting to me this year, hearing the music, is they have a kind of like very high emotion. quality like the country is wrecked without Trump and it's late night for America and, you know, people are going to sing along to these sad, really heightened emotional songs. To me, a lot of those songs stand out for how unusual they are in a campaign setting, but also something specific about Trump. It's like strange and sort of comical, but also like very memorable. And,

like, you'll never forget that, and nobody else would do it that way. He wants people's attention, and he also can kind of subvert in subtle ways, like politics into other parts of culture that you would necessarily think would be part of a political campaign. So, you know, it's kind of like the Trump experience overall, and he's, like, attuned to things that people find compelling and also things that really turn people away. And obviously it's not like cats is the thing that's turning most people away from Trump, but it is kind of in peace with the whole thing just because he loves it and he's not going to not do it. If you like this show, follow it on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. This show is produced by Derek Arthur, Sophia Alvarez Boyd, Veshaka, Phoebe Lett, Christina Samuoski, and Jillian Weinberger.

It's edited by Kari Pitkin, Alison Bruzek, and Annie Rose Strasser. Engineering, mixing, and original music by Isaac Jones, Sonia Herrero, Pat McCusker, Carol Saburo, and Afim Shapiro. Additional music by Amin Sahota. The fact check team is Kate Sinclair, Mary Marge Locker, and Michelle Harris. Audience Strategy by Shannon Busta, Christina Samueluski, and Adrian Rivera. The executive producer of Times Opinion Audio is Annie Rose Dresser.