“Now I believe as sure as I am standing here today, that what happened was a true miracle – and on that day America felt the truth of Scripture, ‘Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me.’”
— J.D. Vance in Butler, Pennsylvania
“Young man, there's no need to feel down. I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground.”
Sometimes, things work out for the better when they don’t go as planned. Sometimes, you catch yourself unexpectedly tapping your toes when you had no plan of dancing whatsoever. Yet, embracing spontaneity, you keep on dancing all the same.
The unexpected and spontaneous are next-door neighbors with the miraculous and providential – all prone to upsetting the best and worst intentions of men. Men who take pride in their ability to control the course of human events do not like being reminded that the world is much too ineffable to be managed by their best-made plans. It doesn’t necessarily take an act of God to upset their schemes. Fortune always plays its hand in the affairs of men. A simple unconscious step or swift flash of instinct can turn heads to new possibilities no one could have planned or hoped to control.
For instance, the Village People didn’t plan the famous dance for their song “Y.M.C.A.” It was completely unexpected, a consequence that sprang up spontaneously. In fact, the dance everyone knows actually started as a miscommunication between the band and the studio audience on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.
“We were flying up from South America for the show, and we worked on the choreography on the airplane — handclaps, turning, marching in place…stuff like that,” band member Randy Jones told “Spin” in a 2008 retrospective about the song, “Well, the audience at this particular taping was a bunch of kids bused in from a cheerleader camp. The first time we got to the chorus, we were clapping our hands above our heads. And the kids thought it looked like we were making a Y. So they automatically did the letters. We saw this and started doing letters with them. It was purely audience-generated, which is probably why it’s still so popular.”
Fast-forward 40-plus years and the 1978 disco smash hit is now synonymous with the most unlikely of characters — the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. Trump began ending his rallies in 2020 with the song and captured the world’s attention by adding his own unique set of dance moves to the mix.
Yet, this past weekend, Trump may have put on his ultimate performance to the song.
Returning for a second rally in Butler, Pa., the same venue where he was less than an inch from being killed by an assassin’s bullet, Trump put on a historic spectacle no one could have planned or predicted six months ago. Yes, many political promises were made there by Trump and his team (including Elon “Dark MAGA” Musk), but the plans presented for a second Trump term were beside the point.
The second Butler rally was more than just another political event. It was a MAGA celebration of life and the nation, wrapped up in red, white and blue, as well as scripture, song and cheer; all done in such a preposterously entertaining and endearing way that one must simply say, “Only in America.”
Indeed, at the end of the rally, right on cue, standing a few feet from the exact spot where his life was almost taken two months ago, Trump began shaking his hips and pumping his fists to Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” – dancing in the shadow of his own death.
Whether Thomas Matthew Crooks acted alone will be for historians and conspiracists to hash out in coming years. But concerning that dark day, there is one thing I do know: that someone planned for Donald Trump’s death on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. Yet, because of an unexpected, spontaneous turn of the head, things didn’t go according to plan. And after going down, Trump picked himself off the ground.
“I truly believe that God saved President Trump's life that day,” JD Vance told the massive crowd at the second Butler rally, “and I believe that God is with us right now and watches over this incredible nation every single day.”
Vance isn’t the first to suggest Divine Providence at work in saving Trump’s life. Many say they see the finger of God in these events, including Trump himself, while certain more skeptical corners of the world have mocked the idea that Trump is God’s chosen candidate.
For my part, I prefer to think of such unlikely moments as God unexpectedly catching himself tapping his toes, dancing spontaneously with the music of his creation even to his own surprise.
Joey Clark is a native Alabamian and is currently the host of the radio program News and Views on News Talk 93.1 FM WACV out of Montgomery, AL M-F 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. His column appears every Tuesday in 1819 News. To contact Joey for media or speaking appearances as well as any feedback, please email joeyclarklive@gmail.com. Follow him on X @TheJoeyClark or watch the radio show livestream.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to Commentary@1819news.com.
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