The signs in the crowd said “Trump will fix it,” but former President Donald J. Trump grew increasingly exasperated on Friday night at a rally in Milwaukee when he experienced technical difficulties with his microphone.
“Do you want to see me knock the hell out of people backstage?” Mr. Trump, visibly irritated, asked the crowd at Fiserv Forum. The question kicked off a four-minute rant about his technical issues in which Mr. Trump grew steadily angrier.
“It’s a pretty stupid situation, but that’s OK,” Mr. Trump said. “I get so angry. I’m up here seething. I’m seething. I’m working my ass off with this stupid mic.”
The rally was Mr. Trump’s final scheduled event in Wisconsin, but his closing pitch was derailed just minutes into his remarks, when members of the crowd began chanting “Fix the mic!” and indicated that they could not hear him properly.
The former president’s solution was to remove the microphone from its holder to bring it closer to his face. But then Mr. Trump, 78, who has made a point to remind his supporters how hard he has been campaigning without a break, acknowledged that holding the microphone for so long was tiring.
“I’m blowing out my left arm, now I’m going to blow out my right arm, and I’m blowing out my damn throat too, because these stupid people,” he said.
He griped about the low height of microphone stands at some of his events, complaining that they had made him inaudible. He played with the microphone stand as if trying to adjust it, stooped toward it and bobbed with his mouth open. The crowd roared with laughter. But observers on social media shared a 5-second clip of the moment, suggesting the former president was pantomiming oral sex. Those short clips quickly received millions of views.
“Way too low,” Mr. Trump said, swatting the microphone stand away. “Way too low.”
“There’s nothing worse than, I walk in like this, and I’m bending — you notice, I was bending over like this,” Mr. Trump said, again stooping with his mouth agape. “And then everybody says, ‘Is there something wrong with his back? What the hell is wrong with that guy?’ They’re saying ‘He’s cognitively impaired and physically impaired, there’s something wrong with him.’ All because I have guys that are stupid back there.”
Technical issues have unsettled Mr. Trump multiple times during this campaign. He is a veteran stage performer and extremely sensitive to the images and systems that make his shows work. And when they don’t work, he tends to erupt or complain.
After his microphone was replaced, Mr. Trump tried to return to his standard stump speech. But it was clear the technical issues were on his mind. Toward the closing of his speech, he explained to his supporters that he could have easily slunk away to a beach and relaxed but instead chose to run for president to improve their lives.
“I don’t have to be here, but if I had my choice, I’d rather be right here with a broken-down” microphone in Wisconsin, he said, adding an expletive.
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