Donald Trump's Top 5 Most Awkward Dancing Moments

At a 2024 Easter event at Mar-a-Lago, Barron Trump was seen reacting to dad Donald Trump's dance moves like a typical teen — trying to get some distance from his dad's antics. But that's hardly the first awkward Donald dancing moment. Donald has been seen dancing numerous times on stage at his political rallies, and even before Donald entered politics, he was seen busting a move at awards shows and on TV. It never quite seems to go as well as he might think that it's going. It could be that he doesn't always seem the most comfortable in his skin with what he's doing or that he's either trying too hard or not quite hard enough.

Whether it's his own self-consciousness that makes some of his dance moves particularly cringy to watch or if the cringe is in the eye of the beholder, it's hard to say. We'll let you decide after you take a look at some of these clips. Once you see them, you can't unsee them, so you've been warned.

At a rally in the Bronx in May 2024, Donald Trump was seen making some moves to Sam & Dave's "Hold On I'm Coming." The clip went viral, though we're not quite sure how to best describe Trump's dance moves — a combination of clenched fists with some synchronized knee and arm movements that are not quite the robot and not quite the 1960s monkey dance. He doesn't do the move long, but it's long enough.

Whatever dance he was doing, some commenters online absolutely loved seeing the former president whip out his dance moves. Some predicted Trump's dance would soon become a meme, and there were others who were more critical. One person posted on a YouTube video of the moment, saying, "A class action lawsuit is needed immediately for the pain and suffering of anyone who's stumbled upon this clip and couldn't turn away from the cringe train wreck that is Trump attempting to dance and thinking he absolutely ate that s***. I can't unsee it."

Back in 2005, long before Donald Trump was president, he was the star of the reality show "The Apprentice." It first debuted in 2004, and it was a hit, making household names of people like Omarosa, who would go on to have a tense relationship with Trump. The 2005 Emmy Awards show seemed to capitalize on that popularity by having Trump appear with Megan Mullally, star of "Will & Grace," to do a song and dance to the theme song from "Green Acres." And it's something to see.

Trump completely flipped the script on his usual outfit of a suit and a long red tie. He was wearing overalls, a white shirt, a straw hat, and carrying a pitchfork. As he sings, he does a kind of awkward bobbing along to the music. We guess that could be called dancing?

He tweeted a clip of the song and dance in 2018 to promote his signing a farm bill. Mullally noticed and didn't seem too impressed with the trip down memory lane. She posted, "If you guys need me, i'll be in a hole in the ground." Trump would go on to bash the Emmys, among other awards shows. "The Apprentice" never won an Emmy and Trump didn't seem to appreciate that apparent snub.

Donald Trump seems to have had a love/hate relationship with "Saturday Night Live." When he started to become a repeat target on the late-night comedy sketch show, he seemed to turn against it. But he's actually been a host on the show a couple of times. The first time was in 2004 when"The Apprentice" was really was a big deal. During his time on the show, he was in a sketch called "Donald Trump's House of Wings," and in it, he dances to a spoof on "Jump (For My Love)" by The Pointer Sisters.

Here's unearthed footage from Mr. Trump's buried 2004 Saturday Night Live sketch called "Donald Trump's House of Wings."

How did anyone vote for this man for President?

So cringe. 😬 pic.twitter.com/J9it3tnZ4X

— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) April 23, 2024

He's surrounded by Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, Kenan Thompson, and Seth Myers, who are all dressed like newly hatched chickens. Yet you can't look away from Trump in the center, wearing a yellow suit and doing his best to dance along. One person on X, formerly Twitter, wrote of the clip, "This is both horrifying and amazing." Another questioned what they'd actually watched, "Is this a deep fake? It can't possibly be real."

If you happen to own the DVDs for this season of "SNL," you might also be questioning the reality of the sketch — Trump's chicken dancing didn't make the cut for the DVD release.

Donald Trump's second "Saturday Night Live" hosting gig was in 2015, and it may well have been his last. Trump has thrown tantrums on social media over "SNL" portrayals of him, so it seems unlikely that we'll ever see him grace its stage again. But considering how poorly received his 2015 appearance was, maybe that's okay. One standout moment was when Trump danced to a parody of Drake's popular hit "Hotline Bling" as the "tax guy." Admittedly, it seems like part of the joke is that Trump's dancing is bad. But even so, it's still one of those secondhand embarrassment moments where you watch through your fingers.

The director of Drake's music video for "Hotline Bling" hoped that the video would inspire men to dance. We guess it worked for Trump? One commenter on YouTube joked about Trump making the video: "One second you're dancing to Hotline Bling, and the next you're in charge of the nuclear codes. Life comes at you fast." Another person wrote, "I remember the first time I watched this and it haunted me for a good week." We're right there with them.

What would a compilation of cringey Donald Trump dance moments be without what seems to be his favorite song to bob to: "Y.M.C.A." by the Village People. At rally after rally during his multiple runs for the presidency, Trump has been seen doing what admittedly looks a bit like his "Hotline Bling" from "SNL" moves, except with his signature dance hands — clenched fists. He doesn't ever seem to do the actual "Y.M.C.A." dance moves of making your arms into the shape of the letters.

In a 2020 episode of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," the host skewered Trump's "Y.M.C.A." moves. Colbert said that Trump, "makes the inflatable tube-man look like Fred Astaire." One YouTube commenter said, "It's called the Trump Shimmy. The hottest dance move since the lawnmower." Another joked, "The 'I don't have rhythm, but I have money' dance."

The Village People have noticed Trump's use of their songs — he's also frequently used their song "Macho Man" at his rallies — and in 2020, in the midst of the Black Lives Matter protests, lead singer Victor Willis posted on Facebook to specifically ask Trump to stop playing "Macho Man" and "Y.M.C.A." at his rallies. No word from Willis on Trump's dancing skills.