Trump awards Medal of Freedom after hard-rocking walkout to Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’

16 Sep, 2019 20:45 / Updated 5 years ago

The awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom is usually a formal affair, but President Donald Trump has broken the mold, walking into the ceremony to the driving metal riffs of Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman.’

Presenting the medal to New York Yankees Hall of Fame pitcher Mariano Rivera on Monday, the President entered the East Room of the White House, with ‘Hail to the Chief’ giving way to the instantly recognizable main riff of Metallica’s 1991 megahit.

The music choice was fitting, as ‘Enter Sandman’ would reverberate through New York’s Yankee Stadium as Rivera walked onto the field to the pitcher’s mound during his career with the ‘Bronx Bombers.’

“Why do they call him the sandman?” Trump said that his wife Melania asked him before the ceremony. “I said because he put the batter to sleep, right, the sandman.”  

While the choice of tunes was a hit with Trump and Rivera’s fans, the anti-Trump crowd were predictably displeased. “Few moments in live sports were more enjoyable than Metallica’s Enter Sandman playing as Mariano Rivera came out from bullpen with 50,000 fans on their feet,” journalist Chuck Modi tweeted. “Now Trump has ruined that too.”

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