Trump, turning 80, celebrates his age with big UFC birthday bash – Washington Examiner
President Donald Trump is marking America’s 250th birthday, but also a milestone of his own, as he hosts a cage match of herculean proportions at the White House this Sunday.
The event, a UFC fight that cost an estimated $60 million and will gather 4,300 guests in a makeshift Octagon arena on the South Lawn, will coincide with Trump’s 80th birthday. And he’s celebrating it with a fanfare his predecessor did not. Joe Biden, the first octogenarian president, remained out of the limelight and held a subdued brunch instead when he turned 80 in 2022.
Trump’s preference for flashy, attention-grabbing events is one of the stylistic differences between the two men. Last year, Trump presided over a military parade commemorating the Army’s 250th anniversary — also coinciding with his turning 79.
But it’s also one of the ways he’s kept criticism regarding his age at bay, staying in the public spotlight and projecting an image of strength and vitality that Biden failed to do during his four years in the Oval Office.
Polling captures concerns related to Trump’s age, with an Ipsos poll last month finding that a majority of respondents, 59%, do not consider him to have the “mental sharpness” to be effective as president. Fifty-five percent said he is not “in good enough physical health to serve effectively as president.”
Those concerns have been exacerbated by online chatter about Trump “sleeping” during public events, swelling in his legs, and the cause of the bruising on his hands.
But Trump has attracted nowhere near the level of scrutiny as Biden, who experienced mental decline across his presidency and dropped out of his bid for reelection in 2024 after losing his train of thought at a debate with the president.
The White House attributed the difference to the schedule he maintains and his accessibility to the press, calling his level of activity a “stark contrast to what we saw during the last administration.”
“President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible President in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the Washington Examiner.
Democratic strategist Garry South added that despite Trump and Biden belonging in the same age bracket, “the physical stature differential plays to Trump’s advantage.”
“Biden was noticeably and almost unhealthily skinny at the end, with just thin wisps of white hair, and I think those physical factors played into the perception of his frailty,” South told the Washington Examiner. “His voice had also turned very reedy, and that added to the sense of his advancing age.”
South noted that although Trump does have “slips and gaffes,” he cuts a more substantive figure, including “a full head of hair” with “lots of hair spray.”
“He is also bombastic and belligerent, which, although unbecoming for a president, makes him appear to have more energy and force of personality than Biden as president,” the strategist said.
Trump has complemented that persona with his attendance at sporting events, preoccupation with overhauling the White House grounds, including a new East Wing complex, and, during the 2024 election, his freewheeling campaign speeches.
Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, quipped that “many people would be relieved” if Trump “were more incapacitated by age.”
“I think for Trump, age is pushed out by concerns about authoritarianism, being erratic, narcissism,” she told the Washington Examiner.
Trump admitted to the Wall Street Journal in January that he sometimes closes his eyes during meetings because “it’s very relaxing,” but he and his staff have been adamant that most of the images have come from photographers “[catching him] with the blink.”
The White House has attributed the bruising to Trump shaking hands and the fact that he takes more than the recommended amount of aspirin, a blood thinner, each day. Speculation over its cause also includes an intravenous drip infusion.
The White House was also forced to explain in March that a rash on Trump’s neck had been prompted by a cream he is using as a “preventative skin treatment.” In terms of his swollen ankles, the White House last July linked them to Trump’s diagnosis with chronic venous insufficiency.
While Trump may be going big for his birthday, that does not mean he has embraced his age, telling Dr. Mehmet Oz, his Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, that 80 is “not a number I like.”
“You don’t have to wish me happy birthday because I’m not happy about that birthday that I’m having,” Trump told Oz in the Oval Office. “That’s a number that I never thought really too much about … but I’m here, nevertheless.”
President Trump offered a great birthday present… I get to attend his! pic.twitter.com/PHuMeGLreU
The White House has downplayed concern about a more serious medical condition when asked why Trump has undergone three annual physical examinations at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in a year, the most recent occurring last month. They have been supplemented by two dentist appointments in Florida since January.
“I think he likes the results,” Oz told reporters during a White House press briefing last week. “He does really well. He aces the test every single day. I do actually believe that he is curious to make sure everything is going in the right direction.”
Much of Trump’s Cabinet is expected to attend the UFC fights at the White House on Sunday. The event, headlined by Justin Gaethje and Ilia Topuria in the lightweight bout and Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane in their heavyweight counterpart, will take place under a metal structure the UFC has called “The Claw” and will be complemented by a press conference and face-offs at the Lincoln Memorial, a ceremonial weigh-in on the Ellipse, and a military flyover.
UFC CEO Dana White and podcaster Joe Rogan are also among those expected to attend, though White has complained about the number of bugs at the White House.
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White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster stated that the UFC fight, which comes at a pivotal point in the Iran war and after this week’s disappointing inflation data, “will be one of the most entertaining nights in American history.”
“Having this spectacle take place at the People’s House on Flag Day during our nation’s semiquincentennial anniversary is a fitting tribute,” Schuster told the Washington Examiner.
