How YMCA became Donald Trump’s unlikely anthem

But the relationship between MAGA and the YMCA isn’t just about fun, says Dr. Jamie Sarris, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Maynooth University. “I don’t think you can separate Trump and his base from nostalgia,” Sarris told the BBC. “They want to put things back together. That is, they want to relive certain moments in their minds as they were when America was great; they just don’t want to deal with the contradictions. Disco was a problem for a lot of kids in school then, but now the same people who were So uncomfortable they say, “The 70s were great and my back didn’t hurt!”

Moreover, Dr. Saris says, the nostalgia inherent in the MAGA movement carries over to camp. “You see these office workers at Trump rallies dressed as veterans, Navy SEALs, blue-collar workers.” Strange as it may seem, their costumes are not much different from those of the village folk who, with a more familiar irony, worship supposedly healthy and honest lifestyles by dressing up as a policeman, soldier, cowboy, Native American leader, construction worker and motorcyclist Dressed in leather: what Dr. Sarris calls “the still admired images of American masculinity.”

An “eclectic” songbook.

None of this makes the relationship between song and politician any less surprising: Campaign anthems tend to be about patriotism, freedom, and hope for the future, not about hanging out with the boys when you don’t have enough money. But it should be noted that Trump’s musical options are limited. The list of artists who objected to the use of their works at his rallies, or asked their lawyers to send cease and desist letters, is: A very long onewhich includes Beyonce, Rihanna, Celine Dion, Reem and Aerosmith. When The White Stripes’ song Seven Nation Army was played at a rally, Jack White responded on Instagram: “Don’t even think about using my music you fascists. Lawsuit coming from my lawyers over this (to add your 5k more).” The band The lawsuit has since been dropped.

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Oddly enough, another name on that list is Victor Willis of Village People. In June 2020, he… Announce He didn’t want Trump to play his songs anymore and in 2023 he sent… Cease and desist letter After a group dressed as village people was seen performing at Mar-a-Lago. However, many individuals who spoke out against Trump in recent years have since changed their minds, and Willis is one of them. “The financial benefits were great,” he noted on Facebook in December. “The YMCA’s total has been estimated at several million dollars since the President-elect has continued to use the song. Therefore, I am happy that I have allowed the President-elect to continue to use the YMCA. I thank him for choosing to use my song.” Incidentally, Willis also declared in the post that he never meant for there to be any innuendo in lyrics like, “I’m sure you’ll find plenty of ways to have a good time.” He said his wife would sue any news organization Which the YMCA described as a gay anthem.

Are you still confused when you see a 78-year-old president-elect dancing a disco number punctuated with the phrase “young man”? Well, that confusion might be part of the point: One thing that entertains Donald Trump’s supporters and frustrates his critics is that he doesn’t fit neatly into one box. Professor James Garratt, author of Music and Politics: A Critical Introduction, tells the BBC: “Trump’s musical choices (which always seem to be his own) tell us a lot about him, because unlike other politicians, he doesn’t seem to care if his choices sound messy or… Random or ideologically inconsistent This is, after all, a man who has repeatedly changed his political allegiances, and whose songwriting similarly oscillates eclectically, I don’t think he’s trolling liberals with songs like YMCA; Rather, we see the real Trump in all his mixed-up glory.

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