President Donald Trump’s Saturday offer of the White House press secretary job to UFC boss Dana White, along with a team of mixed martial arts fighters as his “assistants,” left critics debating whether the president was joking or simply coming unglued.
“I am pleased to announce that the Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior, has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“I have requested that he bring with him assistants, even though some are not from our Country, of Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, and Kayla Harris,” he continued, apparently meaning two-time Olympic judo champion Kayla Harrison. “We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left. Dana will be a Press Secretary like none other. Dana, please take the job!”
The post included an image of White at the White House briefing room podium, along with photos of the six fighters.
Some critics saw something darker than a joke.
“The president of the United States is spiraling into severe psychosis,” wrote Jim Stewartson, an anti-disinformation activist. “His narcissistic injury from the midterms has shattered any remaining boundaries between his delusions and the real world.”
Others assumed Trump was messing with people. Alyssa Farah Griffin, Trump’s former White House communications director and now a co-host of “The View,” wrote: “Going to go ahead and assume this is Trump trolling. An interesting use of his time post midterms loss.”
The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell pointed to the timing. “Susie Wiles has not even been gone for a day,” he wrote, referring to Trump’s outgoing chief of staff, who left the White House on Friday.
“We’re living at the intersection of the darkest of times and the dumbest of times,” wrote progressive activist Melanie D’Arrigo.
It’s unclear whether the offer is serious. White, a longtime Trump friend and supporter, has run the UFC for more than two decades and is not a fighter himself. Makhachev and Nurmagomedov are from Dagestan, Russia, and Nunes is Brazilian, which Trump acknowledged when he wrote that “some are not from our Country.”
The post comes as Trump reshapes his team after Republicans lost both chambers of Congress on Tuesday. Stephen Miller takes over as White House chief of staff on Monday.