‘Sending a Message’: CNN Panel Reacts to Trump Showing Off His ‘Political Gladiators’ During UFC 309 Appearance

November 18, 2024 Mark Wolf US 0

President-elect Donald Trump’s landslide victory in the 2024 election has elevated him to the status of a world-historical figure.

Thus, it should come as no surprise when the president-elect draws comparisons to famous conquerors who knew how to wield the power they had earned by virtue of achieving immense popularity.

Sunday on CNN’s “Inside Politics with Manu Raju,” The Bulwark national political reporter and CNN panelist Marc Caputo likened Trump’s triumphant appearance at UFC 309 on Saturday night in New York’s City Madison Square Garden — an appearance that included an entourage of the president-elect’s highest-profile allies — to that of a “Republican Caesar” who used his “political gladiators” for the purpose of “sending a message” to the incoming GOP-controlled Senate.

“It really looks like ancient Rome here,” Caputo said in a clip posted to the social media platform X. “This is sort of a conquering, Republican Caesar, who’s going into the Colosseum, and everyone’s cheering. And he’s got his political gladiators with him.”

Then, Caputo perceptively noted the scene’s probable purpose.

“That appearance isn’t just about him enjoying the applause. He’s sending a message to the Senate. Like, ‘Not only are you entertained, but these are my people — are you willing to fight? Because here’s who I have,’” the panelist added.

In an accompanying tweet, Caputo highlighted his on-air observation by referring to Trump’s “gladiatorial message” to the Senate.

Did you watch UFC 309?

Last week, Trump rocked the political establishment with a series of Cabinet nominations that signaled war on the entrenched deep state.

The president-elect’s choice of now-former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida as attorney general probably caused the biggest stir.

Nonetheless, establishment voices squealed like stuck pigs at the news that Trump had nominated former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, a prominent critic of the deep state’s endless regime-change wars, to serve as Director of National Intelligence.

Then, the squealing continued when Trump named former Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a fierce critic of the nation’s scientific and medical establishments, as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Those appointments of Gaetz, Gabbard and Kennedy followed an unprecedented assault on the federal bureaucracy. Earlier in the week, in fact, Trump had announced that X owner Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would team up to slash waste and fraud from federal agencies and, in so doing, restore self-government to the sovereign people.

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In short, the president elect’s shock-and-awe nominations have left establishment pundits and politicians in both parties staggered.

Some Senate Republicans, in fact, have signaled their intent to resist the Trump-led revolution by opposing the president-elect’s nominees.

Thus, Trump did more than make a triumphant post-election entrance into Madison Square Garden on Saturday. He brought Musk, Ramaswamy, Gabbard, Kennedy and others with him.

Moreover, a nearly three-minute clip on X showed the president-elect’s entrance into the arena, led by UFC President Dana White, followed close behind by the Trump entourage and accompanied by the sort of deafening applause Caesar himself might have received back in his time.

Note, too, the president-elect’s embrace of supporter and mega-star podcaster Joe Rogan, an iconic figure in UFC circles.

Kennedy, one of Trump’s most popular allies, joined the crowd in pumping his fist and chanting “U-S-A!”

Meanwhile, a shimmying Gabbard prompted Trump to break out his trademark “YMCA” dance.

“Tulsi knows YMCA is his jam,” one X user tweeted.

Musk, of course, got a front-row seat with the president-elect. But Kennedy, Gabbard and Ramaswamy also had places of honor.

Now, contrast all that public pro-Trump energy and momentum with the probable scene inside the sclerotic Senate.

Will incoming Senate majority leader John Thune of South Dakota honor his pledge to secure Trump’s nominations? Will rogue GOP senators, accustomed to their own way of doing things, resist the Trump-led revolution in self-government by blocking the president-elects’s Cabinet appointments and thereby angering the party’s base?

Whatever their response may be, the “Republican Caesar” has sent them a clear message.

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Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.

Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.

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