2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
6 unhinged Donald Trump moments as he gets booed and trolled by drag queens
Among the many surprising things about Donald Trump is his apparently sincere and deep love for popular stage musicals of the 80s and 90s.
He's frequently spoken of his love of the works of Andrew Lloyd Webber - citing Cats and Phantom of the Opera among his favourites.
Anyone who's been to one of his speeches will be familiar with his warm-up tape. Alongside high energy radio rock hits, MAGA fans are regularly treated to often lengthy cuts from the soundtracks of the above musicals - usually soft solo ballads like Music of the Night from Phantom and Memory from Cats.
Last night, Trump got a treat - a performance of his other favourite musical, Les Miserables, at the Kennedy Centre.
Regular readers will be familiar with Trump's offbeat plan to recast Washington's major cultural centre to be more to his tastes - fewer drag queens and experimental theatre, more basic musicals and country rock.
Well, last night was the culmination of that process - a command performance of the epic show just for him. And a half full audience. And some drag queens. Here's more on that, and some other things that happened in Trump world yesterday.
"Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry men?", the cast of Les Mis intone at one of the show's many emotional climaxes.
Well, Trump, sitting at the front of the circle, certainly did. He also heard the people boo.
As he and rarely seen First Lady Melania Trump took their seats, parts of the (roughly half capacity) crowd erupted in boos. Shortly after, cheers took over from elsewhere in the crowd, followed again by chants of "USA! USA!".
Later, someone accurately shouted "felon" at the President. Among the modest crowd were a large contingent of drag queens, who sashayed past the first family. About a dozen performers from the show's cast refused to appear at the performance in protest against the administration.
Asked on the red carpet whether he identifies more with unfortunate, redemption-seeking ex-convict turned politician turned revolutionary Jean Valjean or obsessive and vindictive policeman Inspector Javert, Trump said: "Oh, that's a tough one."
'You better answer that one, honey,' he said, deferring to his often absent wife. 'I don't know.'
Meanwhile Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to tell a Congressional committee how much it'll cost to refit the "free plane" Trump was gifted by Qatar.
A contract has been awarded for reconfiguration of the plane, which it's been claimed the President could use as a temporary replacement for Air Force One while a new presidential jet is being completed by Boeing.
Trump has become increasingly impatient with the slow pace of ensuring the Boeing jets are suitable for use as a flying White House.
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But it's been pointed out that even the free plane would have to be subject to the same rigorous programme of security checks - effectively dismantling it and rebuilding it to ensure there aren't any bugs or ancient Greeks hiding in the walls.
But asked how much all this was going to cost, a not unreasonable question for the Senate Appropriations defence subcommittee - which is in charge of approving the departmental budget - Hegseth said no.
"That cannot be revealed in this setting," he said.
"Why can't it be revealed in this setting?" asked Senator Jack Reed, "This is the appropriations committee of the United States Senate. We appropriate the money that you will spend after it's authorised by my committee, and you cannot tell us how much the contract is for."
"You will have that number, senator," Hegseth insisted.
"We want it now. The contract has been signed, correct?" Reed asked - reminding him of reports that aviation firm L3Harris had been awarded the contract.
But Hegseth said: "Nothing on that front, that I'm aware of, is being executed."
This Saturday, tanks and other military equipment will roll through the street of Washington DC.
It's totally in celebration of the 250th birthday of the US armed forces, and not for Trump's 79th birthday, which happens to also be on Saturday.
Anyway, Trump is very much looking forward to it - as are we. We'll be on the ground to see the whole grotesque spectacle of military might unfold.
But about 60% of Americans say the parade is "not a good use" of taxpayers' money, according to a poll published last night.
The NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey found just 4 in 10 Americans "somewhat" or "strongly" approve of the parade, while about 3 in 10 "somewhat" or "strongly" disapprove. About 3 in 10 neither approve nor disapprove.
Matt Wheeler, 40, called the display "extremely wasteful" and "a bit of a performance" that "just sends a bad message" in terms of the overt military display.
"The only other time I can think about this, it's been in old throwbacks to the USSR or things you see out of North Korea," said Wheeler, who works in nonprofit fundraising in Los Angeles and described himself as a lifelong Democrat. "It's a direction this administration is inclined to move in that isn't in line with what I thought our country really was."
Lee Greenwood, whose patriotic anthem "God Bless the USA" has soundtracked almost every Trump speech since 2016.
The song - which many people loathe, but I personally consider to be an absolute stone-cold banger - contains the line "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free."
It is Greenwood's only work of note. But he unashamedly dines out on it - and under Trump it's even been played at official naturalisation ceremonies for new citizens.
Well, great news everyone. Greenwood will be singing it live at definitely not Trump's birthday party.
As the military rolls through the nation's capital, a string of protests are scheduled to take place in hundreds of cities across the US.
Protests are growing in response to his immigration policies.
The "No Kings" protests have been called, organisers say, to protect America's democracy as Trump vows to increase his deployment of military forces inside the United States.
But there aren't any planned for the capital, which is probably a good thing after Trump warned any protesters disrupting his not birthday parade would face a severe response.
