US President Donald Trump celebrates turning 80 on Sunday with a showstopping birthday spectacle that once would have seemed unfathomable – a cage-fighting show on the storied South Lawn of the White House.
This week, the hard realities of the office have threatened to overshadow the ostentatious UFC mixed martial arts extravaganza, where combatants sealed inside a wire-mesh octagon try to punch, kick, chop and pummel each other into submission.
Mr Trump has found himself boxed into an unpopular and costly war 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 Mr Trump’s birthday bash, crews pried the president’s name off the Kennedy Centre after a judge ruled that naming it after Trump had gone too far.
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 The Claw, 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.
“This event is a one-of-one event, incredible event. I love it,” said UFC chief Dana White, 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’s marble likeness.
The president has sought to tie Sunday’s event, which features seven fights running past midnight, to larger, months-long celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
But it is much more geared toward feting himself, so much so that the G7 summit for leaders of industrialised 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.
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.
It is a dramatic departure from the way the previous president marked his 80th birthday.
When Mr Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, 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.
With the war in Iran grinding on despite weeks of assurances from Mr Trump that its end is nigh, petrol prices staying high, renewed concerns about inflation and plummeting job approval ratings for him – a White House birthday party unlike anything America has ever seen is definitely a diversion.
UFC also announced on on Friday that it was adding as an official partner for the event World Liberty Financial, to create a special 250,000 dollar (£187,000) athlete bonus pool for Sunday night’s winners.
The cryptocurrency company is co-owned by the Trump family, founded with the president’s special diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff and run by his son, Zach.
The arrangement further blurs lines between the Trump family’s financial interests and the events and construction projects the president has prioritised and used government resources to pull off.
