Donald Trump has offered the job of White House press secretary to Dana White, the chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the president announced himself in a social media post on Saturday. Trump described White, who organised a cage fight at the White House to mark the president’s 80th birthday in June, as “a Warrior and a violent Badass”, qualifications quite different from those sometimes used to describe previous press secretaries. Trump added that he had asked White, a vocal supporter who campaigned for him in 2024, to bring six UFC fighters with him to serve as press aides. “We need these people to protect us from the Lunatic Left,” Trump wrote. “Dana, please accept the job!”
It was initially unclear whether the job offer was part of a current plan, or a stunt to draw attention away from a president who is desperate to change the subject from the heavy defeats suffered by his party in this week’s elections. There was no immediate response from White who, as some observers noted, may hesitate to leave a lucrative role running the UFC, which has brought him a fortune estimated at more than $600m, for a government service job paying $195,000 a year.
Later on Saturday, after CNN reported that White had turned down the offer and that a presidential aide had described it as a joke, White posted an Instagram story showing himself in the White House briefing room beneath the caption: “On to the next chapter.” The UFC chief was then asked about the president’s post at a press conference after a boxing bout in London on Saturday evening. “I’m flying to Washington DC right now” to meet Trump, White replied, without saying whether he would accept the job. “I’m going to meet with him, we have a meeting on Monday, so I’m sure I’ll have more to say after that,” he added.
The president’s post on Truth Social was illustrated with seven images, including what appeared to be an AI-generated image of White behind the presidential seal in a press room, and photographs of six UFC fighters whom Trump fantasises about deploying to deal with reporters who ask him tough questions: Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov (both of whom are from a Muslim-majority region of Russia), Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes and Kayla Harrison – whose surname was misspelled as “Harris” by the president.
In his post, Trump acknowledged that two of his dream picks, Makhachev and Nurmagomedov, are not American, but he did not mention that Nurmagomedov is reportedly close to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, or that Makhachev has spoken out in defence of Palestinian civilians killed by Israel in Gaza. In 2023, Makhachev also celebrated a win in a fight by saying “Alhamdulillah”, an Arabic phrase meaning “praise be to God” used by Muslims. Democrat Abdul El-Sayed was criticised in right-wing media for using the same Arabic phrase in his victory speech this week.
The first in a series of taxpayer-funded pro-Trump adverts, broadcast by the White House ahead of the recent midterm elections, ended with images of the UFC fight on Trump’s birthday and comments about him from White, who could be heard saying: “He is the strongest, most resilient human being I have ever met in my life.” White used this formulation to describe Trump several times during the 2024 presidential campaign, most notably to praise Trump at the Republican national convention.
The role of White House press secretary has been vacant for three weeks, after Trump’s previous pick, far-right commentator Katie Zacharia, was forced to resign after she tried, and failed, to avoid questions about why she described herself as a lawyer despite having failed the bar exam.
Taken from The Guardian US