I just want to give a major shout-out and acknowledgment to commenter angry marmot, who had the novel idea of actually looking at other examples of Trump’s recent speeches in order to compare them to that clip, leaving this comment under Mark Sumner’s story:
ANGRY MARMOT:
See for instance the laboriously dramatic musical pause-for-effect from 1:26:57 to 1:27:23 here (Waco, March 25, 2023) and from 1:09:42 to 1:10:31 here (Greensboro, March 2, 2024), always before the “we are a nation in decline” line.
Everyone should watch those linked clips before commenting on this matter any further.
They should be required viewing, and everyone here and in the media speculating on what caused Trump’s “freeze” — including me so far — has failed in something really basic.
What those clips show, loud and clear, is that in the so-called “freezing” and “teleprompter fail” video …
Trump is actually doing the exact same thing he always does at that part in his speech.
He doesn’t do one single thing differently:
He builds up to the line “greatest nation in the history of the world.”
The music starts.
He stands for about 30 seconds, looking around, as the crowds cheer wildly and chant his name.
Then he proceeds with the “We are a nation in decline” line.
The only difference in the “freezing”/“teleprompter fail” video is that, while Trump is doing what he always does, with the exact same timing he always uses …
No one cheers and yells his name during those 30 seconds. There is dead silence.
That’s what makes it look weird. He’s acting as if there are cheers going on for about 30 seconds, when there aren’t, and then proceeding, as usual. But if someone overdubbed the usual crowd sounds over those 30 “frozen” seconds, that video would look just like any of his other speeches.
In fact, if there is anything weird about Trump’s behavior in that clip, it is that he’s NOT doing anything differently. He’s doing everything rigidly and by rote, and not showing enough flexibility to adjust to the change in circumstances.
Or maybe, most likely, the teleprompter was not glitching at all, but working perfectly — the way it is programmed to — doing the usual timing and allowing for 30 seconds of cheering and showing a blank screen for about 30 seconds, forcing Trump to wait for the next line to come up.