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WASHINGTON — <\/span>President Donald Trump<\/a> celebrates turning 80 on Sunday with a showstopping birthday spectacle<\/a> that once would have seemed unfathomable: a cage-fighting show<\/a> on the storied South Lawn<\/a> of the White House.<\/p>\n This week, the hard realities of the office have threatened to overshadow the ostentatious UFC mixed martial arts<\/a> extravaganza, where combatants sealed inside a wire-mesh octagon try to punch, kick, chop and pummel each other into submission.<\/p>\n Trump has found himself boxed<\/a> into an unpopular and costly war<\/a> he helped start in Iran. An agreement to end the conflict could be close, but the crucial details are still to be negotiated. Meanwhile, about a mile from Trump’s birthday bash, crews pried the president’s name off the Kennedy Center<\/a> after a judge ruled naming it after Trump had gone too far.<\/p>\n Regardless, the president will walk out of the White House and be surrounded by Cabinet leaders, top administration officials, Republican lawmakers and 4,000-plus spectators screaming themselves hoarse in a temporary arena under \u201c The Claw<\/a>,\u201d a spaceship-like metal arch fitted with lighting, sound equipment and large screens. Thousands more will be watching on big screens from the nearby Ellipse. <\/p>\n \u201cThis event is a one of one event, incredible event. I love it,\u201d said UFC chief Dana White<\/a>, a close friend of the president, during a Friday night hype session at the Lincoln Memorial where pairs of fighters shoved and scuffled for the cameras under the stoic gaze of Honest Abe\u2019s marble likeness.<\/p>\n The president has sought to tie Sunday\u2019s event \u2014 which features seven fights running past midnight \u2014 to larger, months-long celebrations of the 250th anniversary<\/a> of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. <\/p>\n But it is much more geared toward feting himself, so much so that the G7 summit for leaders of industrialized nations pushed back their get-together so that the president could attend his cage-match party and then fly straight to France for the meetings. <\/p>\n The weather, though, could put a major damper on things. Strong thunderstorms and heavy lightning disrupted Friday’s Lincoln Memorial event, and the forecast for Sunday evening also looks threatening.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sick and tired of hearing about the weather,\u201d White declared on Friday, before conceding that he’ll prefer to hold future UFC events inside arenas only.<\/p>\n When Trump\u2019s predecessor, President Joe Biden<\/a>, turned 80 in November 2022, he celebrated with a private family brunch at the White House, laying bare just how much and how quickly things have changed.<\/p>\n Asked about the contrast, White House spokesperson Allison Schuster said that the fight \u201cwill be one of the most entertaining nights in American history” and said that the timing was appropriate. \u201cHaving this spectacle take place at the people\u2019s house on Flag Day during our nations\u2019 semiquincentennial anniversary is a fitting tribute,\u201d Schuster said in a statement. <\/p>\n When he turned 80, Biden was the oldest president in U.S. history, and was months away from launching a reelection bid<\/a> that he would ultimately abandon<\/a> after a disastrous debate<\/a> against Trump and mutiny among Democrats<\/a> concerned he was too old to handle a second term.<\/p>\n Trump has now supplanted Biden as the oldest person to be elected U.S. president. He\u2019s constitutionally barred from running again, yet constantly toys with the notion publicly. That\u2019s despite polls showing rising public skepticism about Trump\u2019s mental and physical health \u2014 recalling concerns Biden faced as he turned 80.<\/p>\n A Washington Post\/ABC News\/Ipsos poll<\/a> conducted in April found that less than half of U.S. adults think Trump has the mental sharpness or physical health to serve effectively as president.<\/p>\n The White House countered with a lengthy statement from Trump’s former White House physician, Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, saying Trump’s \u201cstamina, focus, and strength are exceptional and on display every day. Claims to the contrary are pure fiction.\u201d Jackson added that polling concerns were \u201cbeing propagated by the same biased, liberal, Trump-hating press that completely ignored the absolute cognitive and physical disaster that was President Biden.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump has nonetheless undergone four publicly announced physical examinations<\/a> this term alone, with White House physician Dr. Sean Barbabella recently declaring him in \u201cexcellent health.\u201d<\/p>\n The UFC event is an apt metaphor for Trump’s pugilistic political style. He is as big a fan of cage-match-style politics<\/a> as he is of cage-fighting itself.<\/p>\n But Trump has also long been a master of political misdirection, purposely presenting people with something other than his presidency to focus on when things aren\u2019t going well. <\/p>\n With the war in Iran<\/a> grinding on despite weeks of assurances from Trump that its end is nigh, gas prices staying high<\/a>, renewed concerns about inflation<\/a> and plummeting job approval ratings for Trump<\/a> \u2014 a White House birthday party unlike anything America has ever seen is definitely a diversion.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is all distraction,\u201d said Mike Fontaine, a classics professor at Cornell University, who likened it to the gladiatorial games of Imperial Rome, when combatants brutalized each other for public entertainment meant to bolster rulers\u2019 popularity and quell potential unrest.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a classic strategy,” Fontaine said. \u201cIn ancient Rome, the phrase would be, \u2018bread and circuses.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n Trump says the UFC is paying for the event and while its full costs haven’t been divulged, the National Park Service said in a court filing<\/a> that $60-plus million and tens of thousands of hours of labor have gone into it, while seven government agencies have \u201callocated significant resources and manpower.\u201d<\/p>\n UFC also announced on Friday that it was adding as an official partner for the event World Liberty Financial<\/a> to create a special $250,000 athlete bonus pool for Sunday night\u2019s winners. The cryptocurrency company is co-owned by the Trump family, founded with the president\u2019s special diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff<\/a> and run by his son, Zach. The arrangement further blurs lines<\/a> between the Trump family’s financial interests and the events and construction projects the president has prioritized and used government resources to pull off. <\/p>\n Still, Fontaine said that when it comes to a personal flair for pageantry, the president\u2019s second-term tendency to lean into \u201chardcore masculinity and brute fighting\u201d is marrying the UFC’s blood sport with Trump’s trademark humor and enduring sense of showmanship. <\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump has a once-in-a-generation talent for this stuff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n