President Donald Trump has falsely claimed to have won “the gay vote” during the 2024 presidential election, despite only picking up 12 percent of support from the LGBT+ community.
In a lengthy phone interview on Fox News’s panel show The Five on Thursday, the president said: “Now I think I did very well with the gay vote, OK? I even played the gay national anthem as my walk-off, OK?
“And I think it probably helped me. But I did great. No Republican’s ever gotten the gay vote like I did and I’m very proud of it, I think it’s great. Perhaps it’s because I’m from New York City, I don’t know…”
In referring to the “gay national anthem,” Trump was likely talking about the 1978 disco track “YMCA” by The Village People, which he has revived as a signature song at rallies, regularly dancing to it on the rally stage.
The band enjoyed a MAGA popularity boost as a result of the president’s endorsement, but also attracted derision from gay rights activists after agreeing to perform at Trump’s inauguration events in January 2025, which they went ahead with anyway, even dancing with the president in person.
Trump’s claim to have cornered the support of LGBT+ voters was far wide of the mark, however, as an exit poll conducted by NBC News on Election Day found that Democratic candidate Kamala Harris picked up the support of 86 percent of voters who identify as gay, with Trump scoring just 12 percent.
Harris’s numbers are thought to represent the highest score for a Democrat among that demographic in five election cycles.
The most prominent homosexual members of Trump’s inner circle include Scott Bessent, the first openly gay person to lead the Treasury Department, as well as Richard Grenell, the former acting director of the Kennedy Center and Jacob Helberg, the under secretary of state.
Just prior to making those comments in his Fox interview, the president was discussing rumors that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, might be gay, after The New York Post reported that the CIA had briefed Trump to that effect, leaving him “stunned” at the possibility.
The president “laughed aloud,” the Post reported, with others in the room also finding the prospect “hilarious.”
Asked about the story by Jesse Watters, Trump answered: “Well, they did say that, but I don’t know if it was only them. I think a lot of people are saying that, which puts him off to a bad start in that particular country, you know?
“I sort of have to smile to myself when I see people trying to defend the Palestinian regime for women, ‘Women for Palestine,’ but they kill women if you don’t wear a certain group of… If you don’t wear a certain cloth all over your face you have no chance of living.
“And you know when I look at ‘Gays for Palestine’... they kill gays, they kill them instantly, they throw them off buildings, and I’m saying, ‘Who are the gays for Palestine?’”
Trump has previously speculated that the new ayatollah – who succeeded his father, Ali Khamanei, after he was killed in airstrikes on the opening day of Operation Epic Fury last month – is either dead or “damaged” by U.S.-Israeli attacks.
Iranian state media has insisted this is untrue, despite his lack of public appearances since succeeding his father as leader of the embattled theocracy.
Iran holding world’s economy ‘hostage’ with Strait of Hormuz closure – Cooper
Iran-US war live: Iran declares Strait of Hormuz closed with ‘harsh measures’ threat
AI's arrival complicates Big Tech climate goals, and some worry it's locking in more fossil fuels
Why the US military hasn’t used force to reopen the Strait of Hormuz
US has fired 850 Tomahawk missiles into Iran prompting supply concerns
Trump’s ambassador to UK warns cancelling King’s state visit would be ‘a mistake’
