A joke or test? Why Trump floated UFC’s Dana White as his press secretary

For a brief period over the weekend, it looked like United States President Donald Trump had zeroed in on a new White House press secretary: Dana White. A stocky former fighter with a shaved head and a penchant for wearing black, White currently serves as the chief executive of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts company that counts Trump among its fans. “I was only kidding.

But Dana loves the idea,” Trump said from an airport tarmac in West Palm Beach, Florida. “And there’s only one Dana. He’s great.” Just a day earlier, Trump had posted a message to his Truth Social platform, purporting to offer White the press secretary job.

“I am pleased to announce that the Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior, has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States,” Trump wrote on Saturday. He proceeded to explain – in seemingly tongue-in-cheek style – that he had asked White to bring along fighters like Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov as “assistants”. “We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left.