Trump jokes about being 'seething' mad over microphone issues in humorous rant at Milwaukee rally
Former President Donald Trump experienced some technical difficulties during a recent campaign rally, and he tried to make the best of them while being notably irritated.
Trump complained that he was "seething" about a recurring problem with his microphone during an extended rant about the issue at a Wisconsin rally on Friday, The New York Times reported.
The former president -- who was obviously joking, even as the media reported on the incident as though he was serious -- even seemed to threaten violence as he asked the crowd if they wanted to see him "knock the hell out of people backstage" because of the disruption of the event.
"Do you want to see me knock the hell out of people backstage?"
Newsweek reported that former President Trump was addressing a large crowd in a packed arena in Milwaukee Friday night when he began to have problems with the microphone which resulted in some of his supporters being unable to hear him and a chant of "Fix the mic" that bellowed up from the crowd.
"Fix the mic, huh. You gotta be kidding," Trump said. "Do you want to see me knock the hell out of people backstage?"
"I don't mind if they want to come up a little forward or something," he continued of the crowd, "but it's a pretty stupid situation, but that's OK."
"I'm up here seething"
"I get so angry. I'm up here seething. I'm seething, I'm working my ass off with this stupid mic," Trump joked of the technical difficulties that forced him to hold the microphone that otherwise should have been mounted on the podium. "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 of these stupid people."
"I'll make you a deal -- pretend you're listening to it perfectly and I'll come back and do another one, ok, with a decent mic," he added as he smacked the microphone against its holder on the podium.
Recurring problems with his microphones
Former President Trump continued to rant to the Milwaukee crowd about how he "doesn't ask for much" except a decent microphone and lamented that it was the second time that day that he'd had issues with that particular piece of equipment.
He then tried to transition back to his speech and talked about how the generals who messed up the Afghanistan withdrawal should have been fired, like the microphone contractors, when an aide brought him a wireless microphone to replace the one tethered to the podium, according to The Washington Post.
"Hello? Hello? Is that better? Is that better! That's terrible," Trump yelled while scowling at some initial reverb with the new piece of equipment. He continued to jokingly lament about his microphone issues at previous events and particularly noted how the holder is often placed too low, forcing him to lean forward and bend his back.
Mimicking the media, he added, "'He's cognitively impaired and physically impaired, there's something wrong with him,' all because I have guys that are stupid back there."
Trump ended his rant and resumed his rally speech by again vowing to come back later and give another performance for the people in the crowd who were unable to hear him because of the microphone issues.