Donald Trump reveals the first song on "The Trump Playlist" at Rose Garden Club Lunch

On Monday, the White House welcomed guests to President Donald Trump’s own creation, the Rose Garden Club, for a special lunch. As the guests and the press arrived, the president emerged with Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” a soundtrack of his own political myth. While Trump claimed, “We won three elections with that song,” as he reached the podium, it wasn't the first song on "The Trump Playlist," as people found out at the end of his remarks. 

At the end of his remarks, in which he boasted about the White House renovations, his ballroom project and praised rapper/singer Nicki Minaj, Trump told the guests that he was going to put on some music for the event, so that people have fun. "Should we put on a little music? Yes? This way, you don't have to talk to each other—you have to listen to music," the president said before adding: "So we're going to put on a little music, the Trump playlist, okay? And we'll have a little fun," before walking off. As he sat down at a table, the very first song from the Trump playlist turned out to be none other than "Y.M.C.A." from the Village People.

Trump's association with “Y.M.C.A.” goes back a long time, and he even claimed that it was he who made the song “a ‘monster’ hit” again decades after its 1978 release, as he used it frequently at his election rallies. He didn't forget to mention the same in a social media post last week while expressing condolences after the death of Victor Willis, the Village People’s lead singer. “Victor and the group were there for us right from the beginning!” he wrote. 

The song is mostly considered the unofficial soundtrack to the president’s signature fist-pumping dance that he does at public events and rallies. However, while Trump has viewed his relationship with Villis and the band as close, they have not necessarily been enthusiastic about the song’s feature spot on the soundtrack of Trump rallies, according to the New York Times. Back in 2020, the group responded to fans who demanded they stop letting Trump use the song, but they dodged the issue by urging people to keep their music "out of politics,” adding that Trump's use of the song was legal.

Trump had not merely come to the lunch to enjoy the music; he pushed a strong agenda of his own: the White House East Wing Ballroom project. “The best thing and the biggest thing that we’re doing is we’re building a ballroom and a tremendous military centre that was supposed to be top secret, but is no longer top secret because no matter what you do, you get sued," Trump said during his remarks, as per WJTV. He added that the ballroom wasn't a vanity project but an institutional necessity as the White House was too small for its own guests. “We had King Charles here. Everybody wanted to be here. We couldn’t hold everybody,” Trump said. He claimed that soon, with the ballroom, the White House will be able to hold everyone, and it will be one of the most beautiful structures in Washington once it's completed.