Harris on Trump abandoning town hall for music session: ‘Hope he’s okay’

Vice President Harris and her campaign aides swiped at former President Trump on Tuesday after the Republican presidential nominee cut short a town hall event in Pennsylvania to play songs from his playlist for the crowd.

“Hope he’s okay,” Harris posted on the social platform X, responding to a post from her campaign that included a clip of the rally and described Trump as appearing “lost, confused, and frozen on stage.”

A top Trump adviser, Dan Scavino, hit back at Harris’s criticism of the former president’s event, arguing she had taken it out of context with an edited clip.

But other Democrats similarly suggested Trump’s behavior was a concerning sign for voters just three weeks before Election Day.

“Trump had a town hall in Pennsylvania tonight, consisting of pre-screened questions moderated by Kristi Noem. He abruptly cut off the event, then spent 30 minutes simply standing on stage looking at his audience with music playing. Ave Maria played 4-5x. No explanation of why,” Harris campaign spokesperson Ian Sams posted on X.

“That thing Trump did last night is not explainable and it is not small,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) posted on X. “It shows that he’s increasingly detached from reality. Everyone knows if Biden or Harris did that it would be media mayhem. He’s not ok, and you can’t ignore it anymore.”

Trump cut questions short at a town hall event with supporters in battleground Pennsylvania on Monday night, after two lengthy interruptions because of medical episodes.

Instead, the former president opted to play several of his favorite songs for the crowd.

The former president stood on stage alongside South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) for roughly 30 minutes during the event in Oaks, Pa., swaying and gesturing to the crowd.

“We could do another question or two if you’d like,” Trump said, eliciting cheers from the crowd, before changing his mind. “How about this? We’ll play ‘YMCA,’ and we’ll go home.” 

“YMCA” blared over the speakers, and when many attendees remained inside, the music continued. Trump and Noem stood on stage, as songs including “Hallelujah,” “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “Rich Men North of Richmond” played.

“Let me just give you the bottom line, though,” Trump said between songs. “We win Pennsylvania, we win this great commonwealth, we are going to win the whole ballgame. It’s such an important place.”