Just Saying | What’s up with Donald Trump and his YMCA dad-dance?
- Yonden Lhatoo tries to come to terms with the astonishing spectacle of the American president dancing on stage to an old pop song that is widely enjoyed as a gay anthem
Love him or loathe him, everyone is talking about US President Donald Trump dad-dancing on the campaign trail to the beat of YMCA, the 1970s hit song by American disco band the Village People.
Video clips of his dance moves, an awkward combination of intermittent fist-pumping, swaying, knee-bobbing, finger-pointing and clapping, have gone viral and make for compulsive viewing.
But it’s the incongruity of the iconic song itself in the context of his rightwing, conservative, Bible-thumping, evangelical Christian-backed politics that’s making waves. Trump is actually getting his groove from a song that has long been a gay anthem and staple of LGBTQ celebrations. It’s kind of like Attila the Hun turning out to be a fan of ballet.
The Village People band was a product of the disco scene of the 1970s, with members taking on exaggerated, macho, gay-fantasy personas in denim and leather. And YMCA was widely accepted as a wink and a nod to the cruising and hooking up for clandestine sexual encounters that allegedly went on at those friendly neighbourhood, all-male institutions.
As such, the innuendo and double entendre seem apparent enough in lyrics that otherwise may just constitute an innocent account of suburban youth enjoying sporting activities at the local club.
