Dancing Donald Trump reaches the NFL and the UFC

Dancing Donald Trump reaches the NFL and the UFC

During the election campaign, Donald Trump swung his hips to “YMCA” and is now finding imitators in American sports – what foreign politicians can learn from it.

Now athletes are doing it too. Donald Trump shows his Trump dance at an election rally.

Brian Snyder / Reuters

The movements are reminiscent of a teenager who finally dares to dance in a village disco after drinking a lot of beer. Or rather: tries to move more or less to the rhythm of the music. The newly elected US President Donald Trump sometimes “danced” like this at his rallies to the song “YMCA” by Village People. The band wanted to ban Trump from using the song, but that didn’t help much. So the 78-year-old swung his hips, swung his arms and imitated golf swings during election campaign appearances across the states. Trump’s supporters went wild with enthusiasm.

Even with the best will in the world, Trump’s movements cannot be considered fitness exercises – but the so-called Trump dance still found its way into top American sport. It started last weekend at Madison Square Garden in New York. There, mixed martial arts fighter Jon Jones first beat up his opponent and then performed the Trump dance in the ring. In front of the inventor, who seems to have a penchant for martial cage fights from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The future president sat in the front row with political colleagues, including Elon Musk.

The video of Jones’ dance went viral on social networks and attracted attention from other athletes. In the National Football League (NFL), players wiggled their hips, golfer Charley Hull – a Brit – circled her arms, and the Detroit Lions football players imitated a golf tee shot. AC Milan footballer Christian Pulisic also celebrated his goal in the US national team jersey in this way. Like many of the athletes, he said afterwards that the gesture had no political background. “I just found the dance funny.”

The NFL and other professional leagues usually react thinly to political statements or exaggerated cheering gestures from stars, deeming them “undesirable”. Nick Bosa, a fearsome San Francisco 49ers defenseman, was fined $11,000 in early November for wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap during a post-match interview. His Trump dance, however, had no consequences. The league said it did not see the phenomenon as a political statement.

The behavior of the athletes is in contrast to Trump’s first presidency. At that time, numerous athletes, especially black ones, knelt during the national anthem and thereby protested against racism, the exclusion of minorities and police violence. The protests were initiated by quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The former star was therefore released by the 49ers and was never supposed to find a club again. Trump thought guys like Kaepernick should be “fired.”

Large parts of American sports seem to have come to terms with Trump’s antics. Politicians could actually take an example from this: If Emmanuel Macron falters during his state visit to the USA, France will become America’s best friend. And if Viola Amherd shakes her hips, there is a guaranteed discount on the F-35 fighter jets.

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