In 2016, former President of the United States, Barack Obama broke the Internet with his dancing at the White House.
Four years later, current US President, Donald Trump, is dancing. But not everyone is pleased.
Trump on Monday turned his first campaign rally since contracting COVID-19 into a full-throated defense of his handling of the pandemic that has killed 215,000 Americans, joking that he was healthy enough to plunge into the crowd and give voters “a big fat kiss.”
There was no social distancing and mask-wearing was spotty among the thousands who came to see Trump’s return to Florida. He held forth for an hour, trying to get his struggling campaign back on track with just weeks left before Election Day.
And when he was done, with his new exit song, The Village People’s “YMCA,” blaring over the loudspeakers, the president did what has become his trademark dance, pumping his fists somewhat in time to the beat as the crowd roared. But he kept his distance from the audience.
Y’all!!!! POTUS DANCING!!!! @realDonaldTrump #MAGA2020LandslideVictory pic.twitter.com/F5gqjMk0oC
— Brian Clowdus (@BrianClowdus) October 13, 2020
Not everyone was as hyped.
Donald Trump dancing How can I unsee this?? pic.twitter.com/QQmI2r6Llh
— ✊ ALL BLACK LIVES MATTER ✊ (@flywithkamala) October 13, 2020
Trump is dancing because he finally managed to make America first in something. pic.twitter.com/PjP3qdgZbG
— PhonyPOTUS (@potus_phony) October 10, 2020
During a pandemic with over 210K dead across our country...And the @POTUS is dancing What does he do when we hit 300K dead? 400K?
— MR_G (@Mr_G_01) October 13, 2020
215,000 dead Americans and he’s out there doing this... pic.twitter.com/uYUddJcvNN
— Rex Chapman (@RexChapman) October 13, 2020
With three weeks to go before the election, Trump is pushing to correct a stubborn deficit in national and battleground state polling as he continues to spread misinformation about a virus that he spent months downplaying.
For days, the White House had sidestepped questions about whether Trump had tested negative. Conley over the weekend said that the president met Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for safely discontinuing isolation and that by “currently recognized standards,” Trump was no longer considered a transmission risk.
(With inputs from AP)