Trump dancing to 'YMCA' at rallies inspires TikTok trend as MAGA fans recreate POTUS moves in viral videos
President Donald Trump has inspired a new TikTok trend dubbed the "Trump Dance" that sees social media users mimic his iconic "YMCA" rally dance moves. The new number that sees users shake a leg to the POTUS's moves is a mix of Viva La Vida by Coldplay and Swing by Savage, and is reportedly being referred to as "Viva La Swing." The commander-in-chief is seen in the following video breaking into one of his signature dances at a rally in Pennsylvania on October 13, inspiring his supporters to shake their hips to the song in a flurry of TikTok videos, Newsweek reported.
Trump ends the rally with some fist-pumping and awkward dancing to "YMCA" pic.twitter.com/rub8Momz31
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 15, 2020
The videos see TikTok users swing their hips on a street or a parking lot while the person filming moves around them. "Oh s***, shake that a** ma, move it like a gypsy/Stop, whoa, back it up, now let me see your hips swing," the lyrics go. One of the videos shared by a TikTok user was retweeted by the President's eldest daughter Ivanka Trump, who also serves as a senior adviser in the White House.
Having said that, this is barely the first time the President's "YMCA" moves have inspired a TikTok trend. Another viral video of Trump dancing to the number at an Ohio rally in September inspired pro-Trump singer Ricky Rebel to come up with a parody, in which he replaced "YMCA" with "MAGA" -- setting off a series of covers by Trump supporters on the Chinese owned platform. Last month, Victor Willis of the Village People said Trump was welcome to continue using “YMCA” at his campaign rallies, but expressed a wish to see the commander-in-chief do the iconic dance as well.
“’YMCA’ is everybody’s anthem and go-to song for fun. As for the president’s use, I have not granted permission for use at his rallies because permission is not required,” Willis told Bloomberg News. “If I were a Trump hater maybe I’d sue him simply out of spite,” Willis said. “I am not, and I’m not going to have my lawyers sue the president. But he should at least do the ‘YMCA’ dance while he’s at it.”
Trump recently stopped playing The Rolling Stones’ hit “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” at the end of his rallies, replacing it with “YMCA.” Furthermore, the President is also known to play “Macho Man” from the Village People at the events.
While the 1978 song may be a hit at MAGA rallies, it has often been linked to a "secret celebration of gay experiences at Young Men’s Christian Association facilities," according to the New York Post. Willis, however, has insisted that the song is a "sincere tribute to innocent fun."
“The lyrics were written by me as an expression of urban youths having fun at the YMCA. The words were crafted by me to be taken any number of ways but not specific to gays. It’s much broader than that,” Willis said in 2014.
Willis, who owns 50 percent of the copyright to “YMCA”, told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2015 that it “is still grossing millions, per year — just that one song — globally.”