NYT (“Trump Asks Dana White of U.F.C. to Be His Press Secretary“):
President Trump said on Saturday that he had offered Dana White, the chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and a longtime friend, the role of White House press secretary.
Mr. Trump made the announcement in a social media post in which he pleaded with Mr. White — a “violent Fighter and Warrior” — to take the job. The president said he had also requested that Mr. White bring with him a number of U.F.C. fighters to serve as aides who could respond to attacks against the administration.
Here’s the social media post in question:
It was unclear if Mr. Trump’s out-of-the-blue offer to Mr. White was meant to be a joke or was a serious offer aimed at projecting defiance after his midterm election losses.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A U.F.C. spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. White addressed the announcement during a post-fight news conference in London on Saturday, but declined to say whether he and the president had discussed the offer. He said he was flying to Washington to meet with Mr. Trump.
“We have a meeting on Monday, so I’m sure I’ll have more to talk about after that,” he said. Mr. White was also asked how he would balance the role alongside his leadership of the U.F.C. He responded: “Yeah, yeah, I got a lot of jobs already.”
There’s no reason to think this was a joke.
A CNN report, bizarrely behind a paywall (who the hell is going to pay to read CNN?), says White has already declined the offer.
I honestly don’t know which is weirder: that the President of the United States wants to be the CEO of a pro wrestling organization to be his press secretary or that he announced it on social media when there was a really good chance of the offer being declined.
