Last Sunday, Donald Trump organized his big 80th birthday party. He disguised it as an event for the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence, but July 4th is still a few weeks away. The event surpassed the fanfare of any demented celebration, as it turned American institutions into a platform for entertainment and business. Trump christened the nightly boxing event UFC Freedom 250. They set up a thirty-meter-high stadium in the South Garden of the White House. The structure, which covered the building, housed an octagonal ring. It was the stage for several martial arts fights that were broadcast through the Paramount+ platform, not through a general television channel, as would be appropriate for an institutional event. Paramount+'s owner, David Ellison, is one of Trump's allied businessmen. The UFC is the world's leading mixed martial arts fighting organization. For years it was marginal and banned in much of the United States because it was considered excessively violent. It was Trump who hosted the events in his Atlantic City casinos. On Sunday, Trump treated Dana White, the president of the UFC, like a head of state. Both emerged from the Oval Office with puffed chests and paraded through the illuminated corridors and porches until they appeared on the White House balcony. As they waved, the Air Force Thunderbirds and the Navy Blue Angels crossed the sky. Then they paraded like heroes down the red carpet to the front row of the show. The fighters exited the presidential building escorted by the honor guard, equipped with flags and rifles. The spectacle was obscene: fireworks, a parade of soldiers, the United States anthem accompanied by a military band, and a jumbotron projecting images of imperial eagles. Blue, red, white, and gold dominated that excessive display as if it were an oversized fair. A dramaturgy that exuded a lot of aggression, with a recalcitrant patriotism that mixed testosterone, muscle, weapons, and flags as the backdrop for a sports show loaded with violence.The White House became an advertising platform. As in any televised sports championship, the space was full of sponsor advertisements. Beer brands, casinos, betting houses, and a cryptocurrency business managed by the Trumps. One of the images from the broadcast, which later went viral through social networks, is allegorical: Justin Gaethje, son of mining Arizona and the great UFC champion, the man who smashed Ilia Topuria's face in the fight, contemplated the painting with the Declaration of Independence hanging on the living room wall. He did so dressed in boxing shorts and wrapped in the stars and stripes flag. A fusion of politics and violence that conveys barbarism. The spectacle confirms the degradation of American institutions, reduced to the scenography of an ultra circus for business.
