UFC propaganda spectacle at the White House

This is the Guardian. It's amazing because it's the United States. We don't think of I call it soccer. you know, it's just easier to do. Donald Trump is using some of the world's most popular sporting events as his own personal stage. World Cup is great. It's the most successful they've ever had. Ticket was. They've never had anything to sove so quick But has the president ruined the biggest World Cup in history before it's even started? Nothing about this is a unifying or impressive World Cup. This truly is a joyless event. I'm Jenna Hamatoui in for Jonathan Friedland, and this is Politics Weekly America This week, I'm joined by Kareim Zanan, an investigative journalist who covers the intersection between sports and politics. Kareem, lovely to have you on the podcast again It's lovely to be here, Jenal. So we're kind of chatting at a crazy time in New York, where I'm reporting live from. I'm a native New Yorker. So pretty much like everybody else in the city right now, the only thing we want to talk about is the Ks and the NBA finals So to get into the politics of it all, Donald Trump famously showed up on Monday night to watch game three between the Kicks and the Spurs, causing quite a bit of chaos both inside and outside Madison Square Garden And it wasn't quite the welcome he was expecting, right? Not at all. I mean This is a fantastic time for the city of New York. I mean, the Knicks haven't been in the final since I was a kid. and The city is really absolutely loving it at the moment, and there's all sorts of watch parties happening, peoplee are gathering on the streets, but you can't actually do that when Donald Trump is in town Because of all the security required, they basically shut down everything that was happening around Madison Square Garden, thus killing the organic vibe and the joy that comes with such an event. I mean, how was it out there? It was absolutely crazy and insane Sirens everywhere, people going nuts I mean, was it inconvenient or Yeah, prettyre yeah. I mean Yeah, the cops got it pretty much under of control, but they're directing everybody. But it's a scene It's a scene, Everybody's going crazy All this because the presresident wants you the game tonight. Yes. So of course, that already made him quite unpopular. Never mind the fact that he is just a radioactive president at the moment. So you end up with the scenario you did. This is not even a basketball fan to begin with. sure, he's technically New Yorker, but didn't he give that up for Florida a few years ago? So I mean, there's all these reasons to not like him in New York and then he ends up at the actual game where he was appears to have been falling asleep at parts of it, so he wasn't even enjoying himself, he basically gets boot out of the building the Kicks lose? which honestly, let's blame Trump for that as well. That's kind of been the recurring theme since the game and since Trump's appearance at the game, right? Everybody's been saying he jinxed it that he brought in bad energy. Now if you ask Trump, he's been saying that, you know he wasn't He was cheered, he wasn't jeered, but obviously all the videos I think that both you and I saw indicated otherwise And I kind of wanted to know from your perspective, I wonder if you think that the booing he received really plays in his mind because obviously this isn't the first time he's been booed, but this is, as you said, kind of his home turf. Funnily enough, this isn't the first time he's been booed, especially in New York When Donald Trump first appeared at a UFC event in twenty nineteen, his very first ever appearance, he was actually booed at that event. and that's the only time he's ever been booed at a UFC event. And I know the media has sort of been zealous, really overzealous here to sort of find examples of him being boted at sports events. but honestly, Jenna, I think this is the first sort of clear cut example where he's been booooted at game three. There's no doubting what happened here. This is a president who absolutely cares about this. Sports embody Trump's connection to the average person, to the average American It's the only thing basically that can make him relatable as a person. You certainly can't relate to his wealth, his status, all the things he's done over his lifetime, or at least most of us can't, but sports. It's the one thing that you always see in YouTube comments on social media, people saying, Hey, this feels like the person I can actually go out and have beer with So this is the important connection he has with people. Now think of the response he gets at UFC fights. Every time he steps into the arena, he's treated like a champion He relies on that kind of raucous response to present this impression that he's doing great, that he's beloved, that he is being celebrated in America. So when fans boo him at a Nick game, it completely shatters that facade And we're going to get to the UFC of it all in just a minute, but I do think we're zeroing in on what's a really interesting time in sports and both in the United States history right now, right? We're currently on the precipice of the kickoff of the World Cup and the World Cup games that are going to be happening over the next several weeks. America is obviously co hosting it with Mexico and Canada. Kim. Geopolitics has obviously made things suuper tricky. For one thing, it's the first time a host country is at war with a participating nation and strikes are only continuing between the United States and Iran this week. Tell us a little bit about from your understanding, the Iran team and its fans and the World Cup of it all The World Cup of it all. I mean, this is the first time beyond the fact that there is a host nation actually at war with one of the participating countries, this World Cup has been labeled the Joyless World Cup. And that's really saying something Jenna considering the last two editions of the tournament took place in authoritarian regimes Of course, you've mentioned Iran, and that's the big one. For weeks, the Iranian national team actually wasn't able to receive its U. S. visas and they were basically training in Tijuana. So they were across the border in Mexico despite the fact that they needed to actually pes in the United States Finally, Iranian players and support staff have gotten US visas, though a few support staff were denied visas apparently for associations to the Revolutionary Guard, none of which the United States is willing to prove which is very, very concerning. The latest scandal is that it appears, at least Iran is claiming that the United States has revoked the allocation of World Cup tickets for the team in the group stages, which means no Iranian fans can attend Family members can't be present. So this is uncharted and unprecedented territory for sure. And it's not even just the fans, right? It's not just the soccer players. It's also officials hired by FIFA who can't get into the United States, right, Karim? Omar Artan was supposed to be the very first referee from Somalia to officiate at the World Cup. And then that dream is shattered when he's denied entry at the Miami airport this week over what was labeled vetting concerns So U. S. officials are now actually claiming that his denial was due to allegations that he was a suspected member of terrorist organizations or at least associating with these terror organizations. He was actually issued a U. S. visa last week. None of this is an accident, you actually allowed him access to your country. That's what a visa is supposed to be And then you deny him access because he is Somali. If this is how you're going to be treating athletes and people who are registered and approved to enter the country, imagine what the United States is willing to do to the rest of us. And that's obviously not a good look for FIFA President Gianni Infantino, right? who promised that this tournament was going to be quote unquote inclusive. Of course, what we want is to unite The world and our world, of course, needs it as well. We want to inspire, we want to create opportunities And we want to celebrate the most beautiful game in the world. None of this is feeling very inclusive Not in the slightest, Gianni and Fantino has spent more than the last year being an absolute sycophand to Donald Trump kissing his ass specifically to ensure that this is a healthy and successful tournament. FIFA actually doesn't make money three out of four years. It only makes money on a World Cup year. So they rely on the sponsorship, the ticket sales, all these negotiations in order to be successful and to be profitable So of course they lean into their associations with the host nations, but Infantino's specific relationship with Trump goes above and beyond Of course, this was supposed to be his legacy, this World Cup that Gianni in Fantino himself had sort of suggested would be forty eight teams, right and connected between three countries. It's a big ambitious project that had it succeeded would have cemented his legacy Yet right now he's dealing with an extraordinarily incompetent president. and no matter how much sycchophancy and how much he strokes Donald Trump's ego, he simply can't get this thing to be straightened out. And it's not just visitors who are coming into the United States to watch the world R? Not everyone even living in the United States is going to feel safe going to a match this year, right? Oh, absolutely. Americans are currently being subjected to ice presence at World Cup games, which we've never seen before, yet another unprecedented action at this World Cup. And this is likely going to scare away a significant portion of fans from attending these games. I mean less un less they get kidnapped by federal agents, which is very, very possible and I can't believe I'm actually saying this about a World Cup. Once upon a time when The US, Mexico, and Canada bit for this, they called it the United bit. There's nothing united. this bid anymore. This is the America F World Cup. This is the MGa World Cup And if we're being honest, if it's about America first, then why on earth would Trump even care about international fans? To him, it's not about the display of diversity. When he looks at the pictures of crowds on the street, he's not going to be celebrating the diversity He's going to be celebrating the fact that there are crowds in the streets, whether they're all whites, whether they're just the wealthiest Americans who can afford these tickets. That's irrelevant. The perception is this World Cup is doing great and he's doing great. In response to criticisms of IC agents at the games, federal officials have said that ICE will be part of the broader security apparatus for the tournament, not necessarily routine immigration enforcement will'll have to see. And on top of that, even if you did feel totally safe going to a match you just might not be able to afford to go. given the current state of the economy, given the current state of job market A lot of Americans who might otherwise, you know say, hey, maybe I'll splurge a little. We're not even in splurgeed territory right now, right? These tickets are going for thousands and thousands of dollars. This is the first time that the World Cup is implementing something called dynamic pricing. And we are already familiar with dynamic pricing. If you try to buy a plane ticket that When you first looked it was two hundred or three hundred dollars and then suddenly became five hundred six hundred doars, you know exactly what dynamic pricing is. Yet, we had never seen anything like this in the World Cup So now tickets are going for exorbitant prices based on demand Theoretically the idea is that if demand for an event is high, you're going to be paying a lot. If it's lower, you're going to be paying a lot less. But we haven't seen those lower costing tickets. so even the theory is not working out here. again Nothing about this is a unifying or impressive World Cup. This truly is a joyless event Trump might not have a lot of time to watch soccer this weekend because he's celebrating America's two hundred fiftieth anniversary with a massive UFC event at the White House, which just so happens to coincide with his eightieth birthday Karim and I will discuss that after the break Hello, I'm Max Rususton, the Worldup is back and footbot Weekly is going daily. If you want award winning soccer coverage from a podcast that's been over analyzing the game for more than twenty years, and still hasn't run out of opinions or just repeats the same ones over and over again, this is where you'll find it. We'll be producing thirty three daily episodes across the tournament Breaking down all the action, the results, and of course the drama. Can the US make it out of the group stage and into the spotlight on the biggest stage? Wc up daily, listen wherever you get your podcast or watch full episodes on YouTube I'm back with Karem Zon Dream, tellell me What is UFC Freedom two hundred and fifty USC Freedom two hundred fifty is the name given to the ultimate fighting championship event that's set to take place on the south lawn of the White House. Right there, we're gonna to build an arena It's going to hold probably I would say four thousand. five thousand. The great Dana White is putting it on. We'll get it up to the max And behind you in the park, the beautiful park Beautiful open piece of land. We're gonna to have anywhere from seventy five thousand to one hundred thousand people. And yes, you heard that correctly on the south lawn of the White House. It's the culmination of a longstanding partnership between the UFC and Donald Trump A relationship that make no mistake about it helped Trump secure the young male vote that led him back to the White House So, this event is not an actual sporting event. This is a propaganda spectacle And it's an event that's happening simply as a reward for the UFC for helping normalize and rehabilitate Donald Trump you have to think back to his lowest moment. I understand his po his polling is horrific now, but I still think his lowest moment was right after the Jan S insurrection. He was almost radioactive at that point, Apart from a few CPAC appearances, nobody wanted to touch him. and yet he was able to appear at a UFC event which started this rehabilitation process for him. He would get all these cheers. I mean, Jen, you have to imagine when he walks out to a UFC event, it's a very pro wrestling esque type of appearance. He gets his own custom walkout music by Kid Rock to the song American Badass. He's flanked by secret serervice agents. He's got UFC president Dana White standing beside him. The crowd is leaning over to try and touch him like he's Jesus or something really understood, it's very cunning on his part because he understood the advantage here that he could use these events and these displays to normalize his own image he would regularly make appearances at moments where he was suffering in some way. So when he got convicted on thirty four felony counts. He was at a UFC event two days later When his polling collapsed because he'd launched these trade wars with his closest allies in Canada and Mexico, he went to a UFC event And while he was in the middle of a war with Iran, a war that's still ongoing He went and made an appearance at a UFC event. And mind you at all these events, he's always celebrated. He's treated like a champion. so he will keep going back to them And it makes sense, right in terms of if we're looking at the UFC as sort of a type of theater, obviously it makes sense that our reality TV show president would align himself with something that would maybe give him the opportunity to receive that again. Perhaps we already know the answer to this, Karearem, but do you think that it's a coincidence that this massive cage fight event is happening on Trump's birthday This is very very well put, Jen and I'd like to add one thing that beyond it just being a spectacle, It's the fact that this is a violent aggressive sport that really factors in here and an extremely masculine sport at that, right? These are all characteristics that Trump once associated with his presidency. This is the perfect event for a president who has spent more than the last year operating on a what I call the might is right approach to both domestic and foreign policy. So if that's the type of president you want to be, this supposed strong man better sport out there than a sport where people punch each other in the face for a living, where it operates on a meritocracy where the strongest, the most skilled, and the most capable and the most willful are victorious. This is exactly the world in which Trump and a lot of young men want to operate in. Therefore, it is no surprise whatsoever that this is the exact event that Trump would choose on the lawn of the White House. It is the perfect reflection his presidency. I want to zero in a little bit on the masculinity note that you brought up, Karem. I mean, it feels very notable to me that we're zeroing in on an event that's going to be predominantly be men, if not all men, right? There's not a single female UFC fighter that's taking part in this event this weekend. And then on top of that, we have thousands of members of the military who are going to be in attendance watching this event take place. If ever there was a perfect encapsulation of the toxic masculinity that is taking over or has been taking over since Trump took office a second time, this feels like it. Oh, absolutely. And did you know that those thousands of members of the military that are going to be present are requiire to pay their own way to attend and at the same time, they are subject to height and weight requirements. If that doesn't tie to sort of this imagery of the machismo and the perfect ideal man, which really harkens back to the days of Mussolini, another person who understood the power of sports and the spectacle that came with it and the association with masculinity It really feels that Whether wittingly or unwittingly, Trump is sort of mimicking all of this behavior that we've seen before. This is pure authoritarian theater And much like the World Cup, this has been mired in controversy pretty much since the beginning, right? People have been suing to stop the event from happening. There's been a slew of artists who had been signed on to come, who have now dropped out. What's going on there? Can you talk to us a little bit about Trump's polling has never been lower. and I think many celebrities are really getting cold feet and don't want to be associated with him at this time. Whether they supported him or not is irrelevant. It's his current standings and again the perception of it all. When we're just talking about the UFC two hundred fifty event, This is an event where Trump has actually invited quite a few of his friends and celebrities that he likes. Think of the Tom Bradyies and the Duayne the Rock Johnsonons. From what we know from reporting, they've all decided that they're not coming. Nobody has specifically said why they're not coming But it's fascinating to see these were regular presen at UFC events. I mean, Duayne the Rock Johnson at one point was sort of draping UFC championships on fighters. That's how closely associated to the events he was. I think his shoes, Project Rock actually have a deal with the UFC So it's actually very surprising that he's not present And then we have the wider America two hundred and fifty celebrations that sort of are occurring all the way leading up to july fourth A lot of the artists that were supposed to be participating at the events, a lot of them have been dropping out. Some have claimed that you we only thought that this was about celebrating America's two fiftieth anniversary. We wanted nothing to do with an event specifically for Donald Trump. It's definitely going to be interesting watching Trump try to share the spotlight with America over the next few weeks, won't it I mean, that's exactly what he's doing. someone with the ego of his size, he definitely thinks he's worth celebrating as much as the country itself Kareim, we always like to ask a what else question, something a bit different. So this week I wanted to just briefly go back on what's happening in the Middle East The U. S. and Iran are still actively firing at each other with strikes. But interestingly, it seems that Trump is not happy with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Now, Axios reported that you had a phone call with Bibib Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, in which you were angry with him. you said arere you effing crazy? What are you effing doing I helped you stay out of jail. Is that true? Did you speak to him in those terms? I did. I wouldn' say angry. I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon You know, at some point I said maybe We get a step. Can you speak to us a little bit about What's going on there So Jenv, there's anything Trump has been trying to convince us over the past year? It's that he's the ultimate peacemaker, right? He was even given a FIFA peeace Prize by Gianni Infantino, yet another example of the sycophancy that FIFA is willing to participate in just to appease Donald Trump But this ongoing war with Iran and the seemingly collapse of an already very very fragile ceasefire really threatens to upend that peaceemaker image that even Trump himself is trying to hold on to right now And it's happening right around the time of the starting of the World Cup. So of course he's angry with Netanyahu. Netanyahu is now shattering this facade that Trump is a peacemaker and that everything is going to be okay. So of course he's upset about it Now we're recording this on Wednesday. This is obviously a very fast moving story and pretty much every several hours, things are changing rapidly. So we'll just have to continue to watch Trump and Netanyahu and how they're interacting and how this develops. Karem Zadan, thank you so much for joining me on Politics Weekly America Thank you for having, Jenna And that's all from me this week. The producers were Natas Milionit and Danielle Stevens, and the executive producer is Maz Ebdeaj. I'm Jenna Amatoui. Thanks as always for listening This is the Guardian