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Dana White, martial-arts magnate and Trump cheerleader

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ANYONE UNFAMILIAR with combat sports, or the leading lights of Donald Trump’s “MAGA world”, may have been surprised to see a bald, stocky man on the podium after Donald Trump’s victory speech. Shouting the president-elect’s praises with the practised passion of a carnival barker was Dana White, the boss of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the world’s largest mixed martial-arts (MMA) promotion. Mr White knows a thing or two about talking up pugilistic characters like Mr Trump.

To the Trump faithful, he was more familiar. Mr White spoke at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in 2016, when Mr Trump became the party’s nominee for the first time. He told the convention of the origins of their friendship: when Mr White took over the failing UFC in 2001, no venue would play host to the “bloodsport”. That is, until Mr Trump offered one of his casinos. Expressing a thought that has since become a mantra for Trump fans, Mr White told the crowd: “Nobody took us seriously, except Donald Trump.”

Mr White praised the qualities of “the Donald Trump that I know”: his “great business instincts”, that he is a “hard worker” and that he is a “loyal and supportive friend”. That these claims were all highly disputable even in 2016 was irrelevant. Like any good fight promoter—and Mr Trump himself—Mr White knows you shouldn’t worry too much about truth when creating a myth.

Mr White’s own origin story, recounted in many interviews and features, is harder to fact-check. The standard version is the tale of a hard-scrabble kid who grew up on the streets of Southie (as South Boston is affectionately known by locals) and in Las Vegas. A bit of a brawler, he got into amateur boxing and eventually co-ran a gym. There he taught boxing to local youths and boxing fitness to businessmen and housewives.

After an extortion attempt by an associate of Whitey Bulger, a notorious local gangster once played on screen by Johnny Depp, he returned from Boston to Las Vegas. He opened another gym and got into MMA, a multi-discipline combat sport so violent that it used to be banned in 36 American states. (John McCain, a senator, presidential candidate and boxing fan from Arizona, once called it “human cockfighting”.) Mr White convinced two childhood friends to buy the UFC for $2m and let him run it.

He cleaned up the sport, professionalising and popularising it. UFC now airs in more than 170 countries and is worth $11.3bn, according to Forbes, a business magazine. The authorised version of Mr White’s story paints its hero as a charming rogue with a foul mouth and a bit of a temper, whose rough edges and upbringing made him the businessman—and showman—he is today. His superpower, he says proudly, is that he’s “a savage”.

Others paint a darker picture. In her “unauthorised biography” of Mr White, his own mother contests the “boy-raising-himself-in-the-streets myth”. And she says his move to Las Vegas was motivated by a falling-out with his business partner, making no mention of a run-in with organised crime. She admits her son’s importance to the popularisation of MMA. But she says his meteoric rise made him “egotistical, self-centred, arrogant and cruel”—a ruthless “tyrant” who rules those around him “by intimidation”.

Some who have had disagreements with Mr White might concur. He has had bitter and protracted legal fights with several of his fighters over allegations of low pay and exploitative contracts. (Mr White denies that there is any problem with fighters’ pay.) And a video that emerged of Mr White slapping his wife in 2022—an incident he admitted to and apologised for—suggests that his brash persona is not always harmless pantomime.

His long friendship with Mr Trump is perhaps unsurprising. Mr Trump is a fight fan, whether it be UFC, boxing or wrestling. His love of strongmen, literal and figurative, is well-documented. The once-and-future president may even see a little of himself in the self-promoter’s unapologetic machismo. Mr White spoke at the RNC not only in 2016 but the next two as well.

The president-elect doubtless understands that his friendship with the fight promoter helps him with young male voters. Some 49% of 18- to 29-year-olds plumped for him, according to exit polls, up from 41% in 2020. At Mr Trump’s victory celebration Mr White shouted out the names of podcasters and YouTube stars who appeal to the sort of young men who follow UFC. One of them was Joe Rogan, a comedian and former UFC commentator who is now among the world’s most popular podcasters.

Now the fight is won, what purse will Mr White receive? A spokesman has said  he has “no personal political ambitions”, and speculation that he may have secured himself a cabinet position still seems far-fetched. But whatever happens, UFC’s fighting spirit seems likely to remain in favour in the Trump White House and its boss a potent influence.

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Economics

Donald Trump and Tulsi Gabbard are coming for the spooks

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OF DONALD TRUMP’s nominees to high office, few are more suspicious of the government they are pegged to join than Tulsi Gabbard. She warns of a “slow-rolling coup” by “the entire permanent Washington machine”, as she describes it in “For Love of Country”, a campaign book published in April. Her list of putschists is long, catholic and spook-heavy: “the Democratic National Committee, propaganda media, Big Tech, the FBI, the CIA, and a whole network of rogue intelligence and law enforcement agents working at the highest levels of our government”. Yet she may soon oversee some of that machinery.

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Economics

Checks and Balance newsletter: Trump is embracing a shift in Republican priorities

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Will he follow through on his policy commitments?

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Economics

Donald Trump chooses hedge fund executive Scott Bessent for Treasury Secretary

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Scott Bessent, founder and chief executive officer of Key Square Group LP, during an interview in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, June 7, 2024.

Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump has signaled his intention to nominate hedge fund executive Scott Bessent as his Treasury secretary, sources tell CNBC and NBC News.

The founder of Key Square Group had been considered a strong favorite for the position along with a few other close contenders.

As head of Treasury, Bessent, 62, will be both the U.S. fiscal watchdog as well as a key official to help Trump enact his ambitious economic agenda. Both a Wall Street heavyweight and advocate for many of the incoming president’s economic goals, he would come to office at a critical time as the U.S. wrestles with a growing economy alongside long-festering debt and deficit issues.

Like Trump, Bessent favors gradual tariffs and deregulation to push American business and control inflation. In addition, Bessent has advocated for a revival in manufacturing as well as energy independence.

The prospective nominee also has deep philanthropic ties through Yale University along with Rockefeller University and Classical American homes Preservation Trust.

One obstacle Bessent will have to overcome is his past affiliation with billionaire investor and global gadfly George Soros. Bessent served as chief investment officer for Soros’ fund.

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