Make America Tap Again

Trump showed up to UFC 314 to project strength amid his tough-guy trade war—but by night’s end, his MAGA fighters were outclassed by foreigners from the very countries he postures against.

Bryce Mitchell, the UFC’s Nazi fanboy, was choked unconscious in front of Donald Trump during the UFC 314 broadcast

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While flying aboard Air Force One to attend UFC 314 on Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump seemed to connect attending the fights to his tough-guy trade war.

“So we’re going to the fight,” Trump told reporters during the short flight between Palm Springs to Miami. “We have lots of fights going around the world, and I think we have a lot of good news coming soon about some of those fights, and we’ll see how it goes.”

Trump has spent the past three months insulting, intimidating, and even threatening some of his closest allies. He escalated a trade war with China, mulled annexing Canada, and sent financial markets spiralling with his bumbling stop-start tariff policy. During that time, Trump has lost the U.S. its key allies, with the European Union considering other economic markets and new Canadian prime minister Mark Carney warning that his country’s traditional relationship with Washington is no more.

And despite vowing that “my policies will never change,” it took Trump less than 24 hours to blink. After he watched the financial markets suffer their worst drop since the coronavirus pandemic, haemorrhaging trillions of dollars, the president announced a 90-day pause on higher trade tariffs in most countries, excluding China. He then caved again when he exempted smartphones, computers and some other electronic devices from the 125% "reciprocal" tariffs imposed on China.

It’s no wonder Trump showed up to the fights—it was the only way he could feign strength during one of the most humiliating weeks of his presidency. But by night’s end, his MAGA fighters were outclassed by opponents from the very countries he was posturing against.

Exhibit A: The Nazi waking up from his most recent trip to the shadow realm