Trump’s favorite songs offer an unsettling glimpse into his mind: Broadway schmaltz, masculine bombast, and an eerie indifference to the world going up in flames

By David Browne

Donald Trump may be celebrating his 80th birthday this weekend with a White House U.F.C. fight, but the festivities are bound to come with a soundtrack. Bill Clinton had his sax, Jimmy Carter his Southern rockers, Barack Obama his music-biz admirers. Our current president has his iPad—and the range of songs he’s called up on that device, or played at his events, provides another, sometimes unsettling peek into the Trump brain.

A bona-fide boomer—born the year after World War II ended—Trump was spotted at the occasional rock show before his White House years. In 2006, he was in one READ ON