Donald Trump’s Dana White Gambit Fails to Distract From Midterm Defeat

Donald Trump has often turned to the world of sports to project strength and energize his political base. But after a bruising midterm election result, his latest attempt to draw attention elsewhere—an offer of a press secretary role to UFC chief Dana White—did little to obscure the political setback, according to Howard Bryant’s commentary. The proposal was widely treated as a strange move. Some observers wondered whether Trump had confused the UFC executive with another Dana White, a former Heritage Foundation staffer. After the reaction made the offer look even more muddled, Trump described it as a joke. Bryant argues that the episode added to impressions of disorder surrounding the president and his team. The commentary also points to the short tenure of Trump’s most recent press secretary, Katie Zacharia, as another sign of turbulence. Bryant suggests that, faced with pressure, Trump may fall back on familiar tactics and seek attention in arenas with large audiences. Sports, the writer says, has repeatedly served that purpose. Trump’s clashes with athletes and leagues have featured prominently in his political messaging. Bryant recalls his attacks on NFL player Colin Kaepernick and says sports have remained part of the president’s culture-war strategy, with disputes involving the NBA, Major League Baseball and the WNBA also mentioned in the article. The piece further notes Trump’s use of spectacle to promote an image of toughness, including a UFC cage event held on the White House South Lawn as part of the country’s 250th-birthday celebrations. In Bryant’s view, however, invoking Dana White and the sporting world could not erase the significance of the midterm outcome. The article portrays the offer as a conspicuous bid to redirect the news cycle at a moment when the political fallout was still demanding attention.