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06/14 22:34 CDT Trump celebrates his 80th birthday with an Iran deal and UFC
cage fights at the White House
Trump celebrates his 80th birthday with an Iran deal and UFC cage fights at the
White House
By WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) --- President Donald Trump marked his 80th birthday on Sunday
by hailing an initial agreement to end the war in Iran and staging a once
unfathomable cage-fighting show on the White House's storied South Lawn.
Trump had been touting the emerging deal for weeks and the continuing conflict
threatened to overshadow the UFC mixed martial arts extravaganza, where
combatants inside a wire-mesh octagon tried to punch, kick, chop and pummel
each other into submission.
Ahead of the fight starting, however, the president said an agreement to end
the conflict "is now complete." He declared that the U.S. will end its blockade
of Iran, and that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen. That could potentially
ease high oil prices --- but crucial details still need negotiating over the
coming weeks.
Top administration officials and Republican leaders attended the fights,
including FBI Director Kash Patel and House Speaker Mike Johnson. Polish
President Karol Nawrocki was also spotted at the White House.
Trump and UFC chief Dana White walked together from the Oval Office to the Blue
Room Balcony to survey the Octagon, standing for the national anthem as fighter
jets thundered overhead.
More than 4,000 spectators were invited to a temporary arena under " The Claw,"
a spaceship-like metal arch fitted with lighting, sound equipment and large
screens. Thousands more watched on big screens from the nearby Ellipse.
"This event is a one of one event, incredible event," said White, a close
friend of the president's, during a Friday night hype session at the Lincoln
Memorial, where pairs of fighters shoved and scuffled for the cameras under the
stoic gaze of Honest Abe's marble likeness.
Many of the winning fighters thanked Trump and God. Heavyweight Josh Hokit took
it further with an extraordinary attack, adding an unfounded right-wing
conspiracy theory about a former first lady: "Michelle Obama is a man. Am I
right, America?"
Hokit also headed over to Trump and placed a chain around the president's neck.
Despite short delay, rain doesn't mar fights Wearing a full suit and tie despite the heat and humidity, Trump spent most of his time sitting stoned-faced, watching the action through wire-mesh cage. During another break in Sunday's action, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg approached Trump and spoke with him for several minutes. First lady Melania Trump was also there. As Diego Lopes was defeating American Steve Garcia in the opening fight, the president could be seen speaking to the first lady. After Bo Nickal knocked out Kyle Daukaus in the second fight, Nickal went over to Trump and kneeled down, chatting briefly. "I gotta thank President Trump for making this happen," Nickal said in a subsequent interview, as Trump grinned. Nickal added that the president is a "special person," before Trump-favorite "YMCA" played. The president sought to tie Sunday's event to larger, monthslong celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But it was so geared toward himself that the G7 summit for leaders of industrialized nations pushed back their get-together so that the president could attend his cage-match party and then fly to Europe for the meetings. The weekend wasn't all smiles for Trump, though. Crews pried Trump's name off the Kennedy Center about a mile from Trump's birthday bash after a judge ruled naming it after the president had gone too far. And, before the fight began, UFC Middleweight champion Sean Strickland --- an outspoken critic of Israel --- was escorted out of the Ellipse by a crowd of law enforcement officers. Still, despite forecasts predicting strong chances of thunderstorms that delayed the event briefly, rain wasn't an issue.
A dramatic departure from how the last president marked his 80th
The crowd repeatedly chanted, "USA! USA!" when an American fighter faced a foreign opponent. But that often didn't help the American fighter prevail. After winning his fight, Brazil's Mauricio Ruffy proposed to his girlfriend who --- in Trumpian fashion --- flashed a thumb's up from the crowd. It was all a very long way from when Trump's predecessor, President Joe Biden, turned 80 in November 2022. Biden celebrated with a private family brunch at the White House, laying bare just how much and how quickly things have changed. Asked about the contrast, White House spokesperson Allison Schuster called the UFC event "one of the most entertaining nights in American history." "Having this spectacle take place at the people's house on Flag Day during our nations' semiquincentennial anniversary is a fitting tribute," Schuster said in a statement. When he turned 80, Biden was the oldest president in U.S. history, and was months away from launching a reelection bid that he would ultimately abandon after a disastrous debate against Trump and mutiny among Democrats concerned he was too old to handle a second term. Trump has now supplanted Biden as the oldest person to be elected U.S. president. He's constitutionally barred from running again, yet constantly toys with the notion publicly. That's despite polls showing rising public skepticism about Trump's mental and physical health --- recalling concerns Biden faced as he turned 80. A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted in April found that less than half of U.S. adults think Trump has the mental sharpness or physical health to serve effectively as president. The White House countered with a lengthy statement from Trump's former White House physician, Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, saying Trump's "stamina, focus, and strength are exceptional and on display every day. Claims to the contrary are pure fiction." Jackson added that polling concerns were "being propagated by the same biased, liberal, Trump-hating press that completely ignored the absolute cognitive and physical disaster that was President Biden."
?Bread and circuses' --- Trump-style The UFC is an apt metaphor for Trump's pugilistic political style. He is as big a fan of cage-match-style politics as he is of cage-fighting itself. But Trump has also long been a master of political misdirection, purposely presenting people with something other than his presidency to focus on when things aren't going well. With the war in Iran having kept gas prices high and renewing concerns about inflation while Trump's job approval ratings fall, a White House birthday party unlike anything America has ever seen can certainly qualify as a diversion. "This is all distraction," said Mike Fontaine, a classics professor at Cornell University, who likened it to the gladiatorial games of Imperial Rome, when combatants brutalized each other for public entertainment meant to bolster rulers' popularity and quell potential unrest. "This is a classic strategy," Fontaine said. "In ancient Rome, the phrase would be, ?bread and circuses.'" Trump says the UFC is paying for the event and while its full costs haven't been divulged, the National Park Service said in a court filing that $60-plus million and tens of thousands of hours of labor went into it, while seven government agencies have "allocated significant resources and manpower." UFC also announced that it was adding as an official partner for the event World Liberty Financial to create a special $250,000 athlete bonus pool for Sunday night's winners. The cryptocurrency company is co-owned by the Trump family, founded with the president's special diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff and run by his son, Zach. The arrangement further blurs lines between the Trump family's financial interests and the events and construction projects the president has prioritized and used government resources to pull off. Still, Fontaine said that when it comes to a personal flair for pageantry, the president's second-term tendency to lean into "hardcore masculinity and brute fighting" is marrying the UFC's blood sport with Trump's trademark humor and enduring sense of showmanship. "President Trump has a once-in-a-generation talent for this stuff," he said. ___ Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.
Despite short delay, rain doesn't mar fights Wearing a full suit and tie despite the heat and humidity, Trump spent most of his time sitting stoned-faced, watching the action through wire-mesh cage. During another break in Sunday's action, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg approached Trump and spoke with him for several minutes. First lady Melania Trump was also there. As Diego Lopes was defeating American Steve Garcia in the opening fight, the president could be seen speaking to the first lady. After Bo Nickal knocked out Kyle Daukaus in the second fight, Nickal went over to Trump and kneeled down, chatting briefly. "I gotta thank President Trump for making this happen," Nickal said in a subsequent interview, as Trump grinned. Nickal added that the president is a "special person," before Trump-favorite "YMCA" played. The president sought to tie Sunday's event to larger, monthslong celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But it was so geared toward himself that the G7 summit for leaders of industrialized nations pushed back their get-together so that the president could attend his cage-match party and then fly to Europe for the meetings. The weekend wasn't all smiles for Trump, though. Crews pried Trump's name off the Kennedy Center about a mile from Trump's birthday bash after a judge ruled naming it after the president had gone too far. And, before the fight began, UFC Middleweight champion Sean Strickland --- an outspoken critic of Israel --- was escorted out of the Ellipse by a crowd of law enforcement officers. Still, despite forecasts predicting strong chances of thunderstorms that delayed the event briefly, rain wasn't an issue.
A dramatic departure from how the last president marked his 80th
The crowd repeatedly chanted, "USA! USA!" when an American fighter faced a foreign opponent. But that often didn't help the American fighter prevail. After winning his fight, Brazil's Mauricio Ruffy proposed to his girlfriend who --- in Trumpian fashion --- flashed a thumb's up from the crowd. It was all a very long way from when Trump's predecessor, President Joe Biden, turned 80 in November 2022. Biden celebrated with a private family brunch at the White House, laying bare just how much and how quickly things have changed. Asked about the contrast, White House spokesperson Allison Schuster called the UFC event "one of the most entertaining nights in American history." "Having this spectacle take place at the people's house on Flag Day during our nations' semiquincentennial anniversary is a fitting tribute," Schuster said in a statement. When he turned 80, Biden was the oldest president in U.S. history, and was months away from launching a reelection bid that he would ultimately abandon after a disastrous debate against Trump and mutiny among Democrats concerned he was too old to handle a second term. Trump has now supplanted Biden as the oldest person to be elected U.S. president. He's constitutionally barred from running again, yet constantly toys with the notion publicly. That's despite polls showing rising public skepticism about Trump's mental and physical health --- recalling concerns Biden faced as he turned 80. A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted in April found that less than half of U.S. adults think Trump has the mental sharpness or physical health to serve effectively as president. The White House countered with a lengthy statement from Trump's former White House physician, Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, saying Trump's "stamina, focus, and strength are exceptional and on display every day. Claims to the contrary are pure fiction." Jackson added that polling concerns were "being propagated by the same biased, liberal, Trump-hating press that completely ignored the absolute cognitive and physical disaster that was President Biden."
?Bread and circuses' --- Trump-style The UFC is an apt metaphor for Trump's pugilistic political style. He is as big a fan of cage-match-style politics as he is of cage-fighting itself. But Trump has also long been a master of political misdirection, purposely presenting people with something other than his presidency to focus on when things aren't going well. With the war in Iran having kept gas prices high and renewing concerns about inflation while Trump's job approval ratings fall, a White House birthday party unlike anything America has ever seen can certainly qualify as a diversion. "This is all distraction," said Mike Fontaine, a classics professor at Cornell University, who likened it to the gladiatorial games of Imperial Rome, when combatants brutalized each other for public entertainment meant to bolster rulers' popularity and quell potential unrest. "This is a classic strategy," Fontaine said. "In ancient Rome, the phrase would be, ?bread and circuses.'" Trump says the UFC is paying for the event and while its full costs haven't been divulged, the National Park Service said in a court filing that $60-plus million and tens of thousands of hours of labor went into it, while seven government agencies have "allocated significant resources and manpower." UFC also announced that it was adding as an official partner for the event World Liberty Financial to create a special $250,000 athlete bonus pool for Sunday night's winners. The cryptocurrency company is co-owned by the Trump family, founded with the president's special diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff and run by his son, Zach. The arrangement further blurs lines between the Trump family's financial interests and the events and construction projects the president has prioritized and used government resources to pull off. Still, Fontaine said that when it comes to a personal flair for pageantry, the president's second-term tendency to lean into "hardcore masculinity and brute fighting" is marrying the UFC's blood sport with Trump's trademark humor and enduring sense of showmanship. "President Trump has a once-in-a-generation talent for this stuff," he said. ___ Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.
