We have the video of Donald Trump with the Village People dancing YMCA that has to be seen to be believed

At six in the afternoon, Spanish peninsular time, he takes office and once again becomes president of the United States. Donald Trump He promises to sign a hundred executive orders as soon as he arrives at the Oval Office on his first day and destroy Biden’s legacy in hours with immediate decrees and laws. It also announces the most brutal opening week in history. Last night did not disappoint. Trump held his pre-ceremony closing ceremony this Sunday in Washington with Village People and its legendary YMCA. The new president danced with the group to his anthem from the 70s.

The 47th president of the United States decided to culminate his victory as only he knows how: dancing to “YMCA” with the Village People. The scene, surreal and theatrical, seemed more like the climax of an absurd comedy than a political act; But in this era, politics is precisely that: a perpetual function in the theater of the improbable. The event took place at a rally named after the characteristic Trumpist slogan: Make America Great Again Victory Rally. The stage, illuminated with lights flashing red, white and blue, evoked a carnival, a fairground spectacle that could barely contain its own exaggeration. There was Trump, with his classic hair flying in the wind, moving his arms to the rhythm of the famous disco anthem of the seventies, that ode to a community center that, ironically, has become a symbol of unity as malleable as the ideology of those who they sing it.

Along with him, the new members of the Village People—Javier Pérez, James Lee, JJ Lippold, James Kwong and Nicholas Manelick—flanked the only original member, Victor Willis, who led the group with the mixture of resignation and professionalism that can only offer someone who has survived decades of media turbulence. “Music has no political color,” Willis had declared days before on his Facebook page, facing the barrage of criticism that rained down after his participation in the event was announced. His words, like the song itself, were an ambiguous slogan, a flag of peace waved in the middle of a battlefield where every gesture is interpreted as a declaration of war.

“To say that YMCA is a gay anthem is a false assumption”

The controversy did not take long to intensify. Since the inaugural program was leaked to the press, many have pointed out that the Village People’s choice was a provocation or, at the very least, a blatant irony. After all, the band had always been seen as an icon of queer culture, although Willis has taken pains to deny this association: “To say that YMCA is a gay anthem is a false assumption,” he insisted on his social networks. Like a tightrope walker, he tried to separate artistic creation from the cultural readings that inevitably accompany it. But in the era of Trump, where every gesture is politicized, these words seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Meanwhile, the event continued its course, faithful to the bombastic style of the tycoon turned president. Kid Rock, Trump’s old ally, offered his usual dose of patriotic rock, and Lee Greenwood performed God Bless the USA, that anthem that, for many, has become the soundtrack of contemporary nationalism. But the most anticipated moment was that of Carrie Underwood, who with her crystalline voice sang America the Beautiful accompanied by the Armed Forces Choir and the Glee Club of the United States Naval Academy. “We are in a moment of unity,” said the singer, as if her melody could bridge the turbulent waters that divide the country.

YouTube Video

But it was the ending, the absurd climax, that will remain etched in the collective memory: Trump, the Village People and an ecstatic crowd spelling out “YMCA” with their arms, as if those magical letters could conjure a better future or, at least, make us forget for a moment the shadows that hang over the world. In that moment, the man who turned his name into a global brand seemed to finally understand that politics is just another stage, and he is an actor who never stops playing his role.

However, behind the euphoria there is an echo of uncomfortable questions. What does it mean that a band like the Village People, with its symbolic meaning and history, is now part of this show? Is this a triumph of the universality of music or another example of how everything can be co-opted, emptied of meaning and recycled for personal purposes? Victor Willis claimed that they would never have been invited to a Kamala Harris inauguration; Music, it seems, does not escape the divisions that fracture the country.

In Trump’s America, the future dances to the rhythm of the past, and the past is reinvented to justify the present. In this perpetual carnival, everything becomes a spectacle: the songs, the gestures, the words. And as the crowd applauds, one can’t help but wonder if the show will continue long after the lights go down, because in the comedy of life, the curtain never fully falls.