Trump’s Spotify playlist revealed – and what his favourite songs say about him

Donald Trump is a man of simple pleasures: he likes steaks and Big Macs, model wives, massive skyscrapers and a sparkling chandelier dangling above his golden bidet.

You might characterise it as Frank Sinatra in Vegas by way of Liberace.

And it turns out that’s actually not too far from the truth when it comes to the twice-impeached, four-times-indicted Republican presidential candidate’s musical taste too.

According to a new report by Axios, Mr Trump likes to play DJ at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, running his Spotify playlist from his iPad whenever he’s at home and cranking out his favourite anthems at high volume to the delight of his wealthy courtiers.

The former president is jokingly referred to by club regulars as “DJ T” whenever he starts blasting out his golden oldies from the resort’s patio, the playlist never changing and consisting of “big names and songs people recognise”, according to one insider quoted by the site.

“Trump shakes hands as people pass his table near the front,” Axios reported of a typical evening at Mar-a-Lago.

“After dinner, he’ll open his iPad and play the hits. Sometimes it’s so loud that people have trouble talking. He marvels at the sound quality filling the garden.

“His excitement never fades. He seems like a kid with a new toy every time he turns on that iPad.

“It feels like the first time he’s heard or shared the crooning of Sinatra or the life-hard-lived edge of [Johnny] Cash.”

So what exactly is he spinning?

Here’s a rundown of some of the key tracks on Mr Trump’s playlist – some of which may surprise while others will definitely not:

There are some undeniable bangers in there and a commendable range of genres, from Metallica to Broadway, although no doubt R.E.M. and the late, lamented Sinead O’Connor would be appalled to find themselves in rotation.

Mr Trump reportedly takes a similar approach to the entertainment when he’s in residence at his eponymous golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and even kept the hits blasting on the night he was indicted by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith over his handling of classified documents post-presidency.

The above playlist makes an interesting contrast with Mr Trump’s campaign rallies, where he has been reduced to endlessly playing Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” and a choir of January 6 “hostages” singing the national anthem from jail after a host of artists, from The Village People to Neil Young, hit him with cease-and-desist orders over their aversion to being associated with his divisive political brand.

Interestingly, one of Axios’s sources says the soundtrack above provides an illuminating insight into Mr Trump’s mind, which they characterise as “a series of ‘titanium tubes’ filled with a specific set of grievances, crowd-pleasing lines and taunts”.

They add: “The pipes are impenetrable. No matter the topic or tune, you always end up stuck in one. He’s the same in interviews: No matter what you ask, Trump often simply opens one of the tubes and riffs.”