Donald Trump has joked about being shot during a meeting with a couple whose serviceman son died in Afghanistan.
With just three weeks to go until the US election, the Republican presidential nominee continued on the campaign trail at a “town hall” event in Oaks, Pennsylvania.
On stage with South Dakota Republican governor Kristi Noem, he attempted to woo voters in the crucial swing state – which went Democrat in 2020.
At one point, Ms Noem introduced Mary and Charles Strange, whose son Michael was killed on 6 August 2011 when a Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan, killing 30 US soldiers and a service dog.
It became known as Extortion 17 and according to the Navy Seals Museum was “the greatest single loss of life to Naval Special Warfare [Command] since the Afghan War started in 2001”.
While the couple were being introduced and welcomed on stage, Mr Trump, having got off his seat, said: “It’s a little harder to get up since I got shot.
“It made it more difficult.
“Perhaps that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
To which Ms Noem, the event’s moderator, said: “Sir, they lost their son Michael.”
It was widely reported that during the attempt to assassinate him, Mr Trump’s ear was hit with a bullet.
Also during the town hall event, two people fainted, prompting Mr Trump to ask: “Would anyone else like to faint? Please raise your hand.”
Ms Noem said it happened because of how hot the room was, to which Mr Trump replied: “Personally I enjoy this… you lose weight.”
After reassuring the crowd that the two people who had fainted were fine, he then went on to ask if Ave Maria, sung by Luciano Pavarotti, could be played.
Mr Trump had asked for it to be played as the first person was attended to, roughly half an hour into the event, and it was then played again after the second incident as he stood on stage with Ms Noem waiting silently alongside him.
The former president cut short the question and answer session of the town hall, which was from preselected attendees, and proceeded to play music for 39 minutes.
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During this time, he swayed and danced to the music, including the popular track Y.M.C.A, occasionally stopping to talk to members of the crowd.
AP reported that Mr Trump’s playlist of songs included Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2 U, Rufus Wainwright’s cover of Hallelujah, Guns N’ Roses’ November Rain and Memory from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats.
His campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung wrote on social media: “Nobody wanted to leave and wanted to hear more songs from the famous DJT Spotify playlist!”
Three weeks out
It comes as Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris continues to lead Mr Trump in nationwide polls, but questions remain over whether this will transfer into an election win.
Due to the nature of the US election, much of it relies on a few million voters in several key swing states, including Pennsylvania.
The outcome remains a virtual coin toss as both candidates are hoping to draw out a definitive lead in the final weeks.
The Real Clear Politics website puts Mr Trump an average of 0.3 points ahead of Ms Harris in Pennsylvania and in the top battleground states – which will decide the election – Mr Trump is fractionally ahead in most.
Ms Harris recently rolled out former president Barack Obama, still one of the Democrats’ most effective political communicators, to attack her rival, as another former president, Bill Clinton, also hit the campaign trail in Georgia.