The Village People flanked President-elect Donald Trump and danced with him on stage on Sunday night as he took a victory lap with a campaign-style rally in Washington, D.C., a day before he is sworn in for a second term.
The popular 70s disco group, whose 1978 song YMCA has been a staple at Trump rallies for years appeared with him at Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again Victory Rally’ at the Capital One Arena.
The anthem closed out nearly all of Trump’s campaign rallies. Trump appeared thrilled with the performance as he swayed on stage, bopped his head and sang along as they performed in front of cheering crowds.
He shook the hands of several band members before and after the show – something of a turnaround in relations after the band send him a cease and desist in 2023 for him stop using their music after ‘Macho Man’ was played at a Mar-a-Lago event.
There were plenty of Trump-supporting celebrities and thousands of supporters filled nearly all of the 20,000-plus-seats at the stadium in downtown Washington.
It marked Trump’s first major speech in D.C. since he urged his supporters to march on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, who has become a close Trump confidant since spending more than $250 million to boost his campaign, also spoke at the event along with Vice President-elect JD Vance, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, conservative activist Charlie Kirk and conservative commentator Megyn Kelly.
Singer and rapper Kid Rock and singers Billy Ray Cyrus and 82-year-old Lee Greenwood all performed at the rally.
In an unusual move, Trump entered at the arena’s concourse level and deliberately made his way down the stairs before his speech, stopping frequently to pump his fist and pose for pictures with rallygoers.
The event also featured a performance by Kid Rock, who performed ‘We The People’ and ‘All Summer Long’ despite a cold mix of rain and snow falling outside.
‘Is MAGA in the house?’ the rockstar yelled to cheers and applause from the gathered Trump supporters.
Others taking the stage included singer Lee Greenwood, 82, whose ‘God Bless the USA’ is a Trump favorite and always played at his election rallies.
Billy Ray Cyrus, father of artist and former Disney star, Miley Cyrus, also performed.
Last August the ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ singer signaled his support for Trump in a post on Facebook.
‘I stand here with former U.S. president Donald J. Trump as a proud American,’ Cyrus wrote above a photo of him giving a thumbs-up with the incoming president.
Many of the artists present will also be performing on Monday too as part of the inaugural celebrations.
Besides Village People and country star Carrie Underwood, Kid Rock, Billy Ray Cyrus, Gavin DeGraw and Jason Aldean have all been lined up to play.
Billionaire Tesla owner Elon Musk – who Trump has tasked with helping run a special commission to make the federal government more efficient – took to the stage and said ‘we’re looking forward to making a lot of changes.’
Musk vowed to do ‘great things’ and make America strong ‘for centuries.’
Jon Voight, an actor named by Trump as a special ambassador to Hollywood, declared the president-elect ‘Our hero. A man who never gave up on the American people, and we the people never gave up on him.’
Voight, the father of Angelina Jolie, hailed Trump’s election win as ‘the greatest victory of all time’.
Stephen Miller, Trump’s pick to be deputy chief of staff and a key architect of the administration’s promised hard-line immigration polices, vowed that ‘justice is coming.’
‘We are about to get our country back and our democracy back,’ Miller said, adding ‘Donald J. Trump is about to save this country.’
Trump, meanwhile, said he’d jump start his agenda with a series of unilateral actions from the White House, telling the crowd, ‘You´re going to see executive orders that are going to make you extremely happy. Lots of them.’
