As President Trump prepares to host a UFC fight on the White House grounds to celebrate 250 years of American democracy and his 80th birthday, viewers who dig a show of authoritarianism are in for a treat. But why stop at the blood sport?
Ratings could be even higher if Trump adds more provocative spectacles. Let JD Vance sit in the water tank in the Rose Garden where any member of Mar-a-Lago can throw! Have a Twinkie eating contest in the Status Room! And given that the UFC is already making weight right there at the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool has been freshly painted, why not throw a resort-style rager for the overflow crowd? After all, industrial-grade foam tanks cost less than $3,000.
You’ve probably guessed that my preferences aren’t dirty White House entertainment, but it’s not because I don’t enjoy any of that or want to make fun of UFC fans. It’s my preference for the same reason that I’d be happy to gamble on a Saturday night at an underground table but not on a Sunday morning at a church altar: There’s a time and a place for things.
Many presidents have tried to maintain decorum in their residences, knowing that the White House is a symbol of the United States and that its appeal is the work of generations. White House events don’t need to be glamorous or cater to elites to be relevant. The venue is as much for Little League champions as it is for a Masters winner, as are bluegrass bands as much as classical music players. But there is a difference between popular entertainment and what Trump is planning, which many citizens find offensive—and thus inappropriate for a jubilee meant to unite us.
Trump is not known for prioritizing arguments of respectability or appealing to the virtues of citizens. In fact, you can expect all kinds of dirty entertainment from a former casino owner and beauty pageant, if entertainment was the only goal. But like a Roman emperor presiding over fights at the Colosseum, Trump’s staging of cage fights serves a purpose beyond pleasing the masses. It’s a political tactic in which Trump draws on violence—or images of violence—to appear powerful.
The case probably first occurred to him in 1989, when Trump realized he could raise his own profile by indulging in a popular thirst for revenge. After the jogger was raped in Central Park, he took out a full page ad in four newspapers that started “Reinstating the Death Penalty.” “I want to hate these invaders and murderers,” Trump wrote. “They should be forced to suffer.” (Several Black and Latino youths would later be wrongfully convicted in the case.)
As a presidential candidate and elected official, Trump has gone even further. In 2024, Atlantic collected a A brief history of his violent remarkswhich reached at least 40 events and has only increased. In 2016, Trump wanted to demonstrate that he was in control and humiliated his political opponents by post a GIF that showed him fighting over the CNN logo on a mat and hitting a golf ball at Hillary Clinton’s back. He tried to cultivate image as a tough guy by suggesting that protesters at public meetings deserved to be mobbed, and promising to pay the legal fees of those who did so. As president in 2017, he told a crowd of law enforcement officers that they should be careful about protecting the heads of those arrested while putting them in police cars. After Rep. Greg Gianforte punched a reporter in 2018, Trump said, “Anybody who can do a body slam, he’s my guy.”
Until Trump, modern presidents generally dealt with killing terrorists along with the celebrationemphasizing the concept that it is based on legitimate rights provided by the government, not bloodlust or personal revenge. When Barack Obama announced the death of Osama Bin Laden in 2011, he spoke of how the aftermath of 9/11 left “a gaping hole in our hearts” and united people “as one American family.” When Trump announced the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019, he seemed to want to humiliate him personally, insisting that al-Baghdadi died “like a dog” after “running to the last ditch, screaming and crying and screaming all the way.”
In his second term, Trump said of the US Navy, “We are like pirates.” His administration has killed more than 200 people on various boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, then published memes celebrating the strike. Reflecting on the videos and memes of the governors, a Marine Corps veteran Phil Clay wrote, “I suspect the question the administration cares about is not ‘is this legal,’ ‘is this a war crime,’ ‘is this murder’ or even ‘is this good for America,’ but rather, ‘isn’t this violence fun?'” I suspect that the propaganda surrounding the boat attacks is more focused on associating Trump with power, dominance, and the ability to win.
Many presidents have deported immigrants who are here illegally, but Trump has made a show of sending some of them to notorious foreign prisons. abusing prisoners. His Department of Homeland Security regularly publishes pictures of people being deported, emphasize and celebrate their bonds. Again and again, at public meetings, on social media, and most egregiously on January 6, parts of the Trump center have been fueled by displays of violence.
In honor of Trump’s 80th birthday, the blood game will be the game of choice in the White House because he he wants associating his presidency with himself and being ruled by violence and humiliation of opponents. The United States itself is weaker now on the world stage than it was when Trump began one of his presidencies. But when one cage fighter beats another inside the Octagon next weekend, Trump will benefit if Americans think the same thing that Joe Rogan said in a podcast episode about the event: that is”so Trump.”
