As in ancient Rome, Trump relies on mock fights to promote himself and entertain the plebs.Image: watson/keystone/imago
analysis
Even the young men reject the bloody spectacle of fighting in front of the White House.
June 15, 2026, 2:19 p.mJune 15, 2026, 2:19 p.m
So-called “low-propensity voters,” voters with a low level of education, made a significant contribution to Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory. We’re talking about young men without a high school diploma who usually don’t bother to vote. With a clever, macho election campaign, the president managed to lure an above-average number of people to the polls and cast their votes for him.
This group of voters also loves martial arts, especially UFC Fights. Here we are talking about a particularly hard and bloody sport. Unlike the wrestlers’ fights, which are largely a show, almost anything is allowed here. Trump is also a martial arts fan. As early as the 1980s, he organized fights with the legendary boxing promoter Don King in his casinos in Atlantic City. Occasionally he even took part in show wrestling matches himself.
UFC fans in front of the White House.Image: keystone
The president also loves comparisons with the Romans and their gladiators. Historically, he sees himself in the same league as Julius Caesar. Its ballroom is a clumsy copy of a Roman temple, and its triumphal arch is said to be even taller than that of the emperors.
From that point of view, a UFC fight on the White House lawn was obvious. It was also staged in the Roman style. A huge steel cage was specially built and, like the Roman emperors of old, the president sat in a box with his wife, surrounded by tech billionaires and representatives of his party.
With the gladiator fights, the president wanted to make low-propensity voters happy again and show that he has not lost touch with them. So much for the theory. In practice, the calculation didn’t work out. Only 16 percent of all voters find these fights “appropriate,” according to a survey by the Reuters news agency. Even among Republicans, the event was met with manageable enthusiasm.
The same survey also found that only a third of them were impressed. Joe Rogan, a podcaster extremely popular with young men and someone who began his career as a speaker at UFC fights, even told the Washington Post: “I’ve experienced a lot of surreal things – but this is the most surreal. It’s crazy.”
The UFC fighters in actionImage: keystone
When Trump surrounds himself with UFC fighters, he adorns himself with foreign feathers. He is no hero and used a transparent medical excuse to avoid military service, which was still mandatory at the time – and thus also a possible deployment in the Vietnam War.
Likewise, his character is by no means that of a fighter. “Hyper-masculinity is an integral part of MAGA culture, and on the surface a UFC fight may be as theatrical as a Trump rally,” notes Bhumika Tharoor in “Atlantic.” «(…) But the illusion of strength is of little help in mixed martial arts fights. In these struggles, one cannot shirk responsibility for one’s actions. The blows are not pre-programmed. Actions are more important than words. And no one apologizes when you get hit.”
In short: Successful UFC fighters are the antithesis of Taco Trump. They are disciplined, focused and (at best) humble.
In the Iran War, the US President proved once again that this is exactly what he is not. Even if there is to be peace, or at least a longer ceasefire – it is not yet certain – Trump has once again lived up to his moniker, having turned his back countless times and stringing contradiction after contradiction.
The pseudo-Colosseum on the White House lawn.Image: keystone
Recently he has even described Ayatollah Moijtaba Khamenei as a pragmatic leader. Trump will sell his “peace” with a lot of fuss and claim that it is a much better deal than the one that Barack Obama made at the time.
The fact is that he has achieved nothing with his self-imposed war, other than the deaths of thousands of civilians – including 160 schoolgirls -, 13 American soldiers and costs amounting to tens of billions of dollars, except that a regime that is now in power in Tehran is far worse than that of its murdered predecessors.
The Roman emperors once kept the common people happy with bread and circuses. In times of affordability crisis, this doesn’t work in the 21st century United States. Because Trump is doing nothing to get the skyrocketing costs of energy and food under control, his poll numbers are still abysmal. He achieved nothing with the UFC spectacle – other than providing proof that he has lost touch with his voters.