OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
11:01 AM – Friday, July 12, 2024
Just before former President Donald Trump officially accepts the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, UFC CEO and President Dana White will speak to delegates at the Republican National Convention next week, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Advertisement
The WSJ reported on Wednesday that White will speak on the last day of the four-day convention. As one of the most well-known speakers, the lineup is also likely to include members of Trump’s family and his currently-unnamed running partner.
Having dominated the early primary season due to his proposed policies, charisma, and overall popularity, Trump has been the assumed Republican nominee for quite a while now.
Trump will now formally represent the GOP against the Democrat Party’s 2024 nominee, 81-year-old President Joe Biden, whose own donors, aides, and campaign staffers have expressed doubt in his candidacy. Fourteen officials in Biden’s own party recently urged him to step aside so that Democrats can find a fresh candidate.
Democrats have been anxious about Biden’s re-election candidacy ever since the president’s extremely poor performance in the June 27th debate versus Trump.
Meanwhile, Trump’s ability to connect with an older and younger audience is aided in part by his ongoing appearances at UFC events, showing the American people that he can easily balance both work and play, and that “what you see is what you get” when it comes to Trump, which voters say is refreshing and unlike other presidents.
On June 1st, just two days after Trump’s felony conviction in a criminal trial in New York, he went to a UFC event in Newark, New Jersey. He grinned and waved his hands to the large crowd of UFC fans in the stands, who erupted into excitement while cheering him on.
“[F***] Joe Biden!” The UFC crowd chanted as Trump sat down next to UFC President Dana White.
Trump had also uploaded a TikTok video of himself and White prior to the UFC event earlier that evening.
Late last year, during a campaign rally in Claremont, New Hampshire, Trump jokingly mentioned the possibility of appointing White as his “defense chief” in a second administration.
“Dana White, you know Dana White? The great Dana White… There’s a guy I’d like to make my defense chief,” Trump said as a joke.
“I wouldn’t call him my defense chief. I’d call him my offense chief. He’d be my offense chief. But he’s doing a great job,” he added, with a big smile on his face.
White has already spoken at the GOP conventions in 2020 and 2016. He complimented Trump for his efforts to end illogical COVID-19 restrictions and for encouraging the growth of mixed martial arts by, for example, staging events at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City in the early 2000s.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
Advertisements below