US President Donald Trump took a lap in the presidential state car on the Daytona International Speedway during the opening ceremony of the 62nd annual Daytona 500 vehicles race in Florida on Sunday, before telling the drivers to start their engines.
Trump arrived to the event, the season-opener of the US car-racing NASCAR Cup Series, on Air Force One. The president and his convoy later entered the racetrack, completing one lap while receiving the loud cheers of the audience. Trump then delivered a pre-race campaign stump speech to the apparently adoring crowd.
The president’s participation in pre-race events at the 500-mile race, the most high-profile NASCAR event of the year, sparked various reaction on social media.
One user tweeted a photoshopped version of the video of the president’s vehicle entering the runway, adding soundtrack music from popular car racing movie ‘Fast & Furious’ and footage of the president's car testing from 2016.
Many others declared that “leftists” and “liberals” would "lose their minds" after watching Trump's presidential motorcade turn the Sunday event into a reelection campaign rally.