Opinion
If Donald Trump isn’t thinking about one type of violence, it’s another. In the midst of the war on Iran, Trump told us on the weekend that he’s thinking about his next war. Wars, actually.
Addressing a gathering of the leaders of a dozen nations of South America and Central America and the Caribbean, he started by reassuring them that his attack on Iran, while it’s “been a pretty wild time”, was “going very well”.
Then he nominated his next target: Cuba. We are, he said, “looking forward to the great change that will soon be coming to Cuba”. It’s “in its last moments of life as it was. It’ll have a great new life”.
And yet another war, and perhaps a whole suite of them. Trump was speaking at the launch of the Shield of the Americas, a multinational anti-narcotics operation. All the countries represented are to be part of it: “The heart of our agreement is a commitment to using lethal military force to destroy the sinister cartels and terrorist networks once and for all. We’ll get rid of them. We need your help,” Trump said.
And the US was keen to get involved in their countries: “If you need help, you’re going to let us,“ Trump told the leaders. Trump’s secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, delivered the ultimatum more directly. The US was “prepared to take on these threats and go on the offence alone, if necessary”.
The “president for peace” has used military force on seven countries so far in his second term. Cuba would be the eighth. But wait, there’s more!
In case all of this state-on-state warfare is getting a bit stale, Trump has an event for those who prefer their violence hand to hand. He’s going to turn the White House into a fight cage.
It’s a special occasion. The US this year will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. And what better way than by using the White House as the stage for a day of biff. The Ultimate Fighting Championship franchise is billing it as the “biggest and most watched event” in its history. Trump announced the plan last year. Details were revealed on the weekend.
As promoter Dana White envisages it, fighters will emerge, one by one, bare-chested, to an explosion of music and lights, from the Oval Office itself to walk from the building onto a runway into the fighting Octagon set on the South Lawn, surrounded by 5000 people in stadium-style seats.
The gladiators will proceed to hammerfist, kick, throw, elbow, knee, spinkick and choke each other for the aggrandisement of their host in a series of six fights.
It’s to be called UFC Freedom Fights 250 in acknowledgement of America’s birthday but, in a touching tribute, it’s to be staged on June 14, Trump’s 80th. It seems the perfect metaphor for his presidency.
“Trump has something of a love affair with conflict and violence,” says Matt Dallek, historian and professor of political management at George Washington University.
“He’s fantasised out loud about violence since 2016 – about police officers bashing people’s heads into police cars, about shooting Liz Cheney in the face, about how much he’d like to beat up protesters. He certainly revels in the idea that January 6 was a beautiful day,” when the violent mob rampage through the Capitol injured more than 100 police officers and killed one.
“The UFC thing is very interesting,” he tells me. “It’s physically hard to watch the UFC and see people doing damage to each other. It’s ‘might is right’.” Which is of a piece with the president’s attitude to foreign policy.
Trump was an early friend of the UFC. He offered his now-defunct Taj Mahal casino complex as a fight venue in 2001. White said it was crucial to the company’s survival.
He returned the favour. White reportedly donated millions to Trump’s inauguration last year, earning him a speaking spot on the official program. Trump successfully has used the UFC as a vehicle for pitching to its millions of followers, mainly young men.
“The celebration of violence and brute force has been central to Trump’s political identity,” says Dallek. “It’s one of the reasons for his success. He said he’d be tough on immigrants, tough on crime, tough on the border. There’s something about violence that really speaks to him.”
True, but he also campaigned for years as the president who would end wars, not start them. This appealed strongly to a country disillusioned with decades of failed wars fought at the expense of the lives and limbs of America’s poorest and most disenfranchised communities. What happened?
“He likes power, being dominant, and using violence to achieve it, but he’s decided the way to do it is not through Congress but through military force. He’s increasingly unhinged and erratic.”
He has explored using military force at home. In his first term, he asked top US commander, General Mark Milley, to shoot protesters in the legs. In his second, he encouraged US generals to “use some of these dangerous cities” in America “as training grounds for our military”. And he encouraged ICE agents to use force. But all of these proved fraught politically. So he’s turned increasingly to force abroad.
But why his quickening lust for foreign wars? “He’s always pinging from one crisis to another,” says Dallek. “It’s served him extremely well. It dominates everyone’s attention and he wants people to know he’s the boss. He says Cuba is up next – it’s a way of transitioning from one crisis to the next in a way that feels natural to himself. It draws attention away from the problems he might have created in the current crisis.”
But, consistent with the classic bully type, he does not threaten violence against America’s truly tough rivals – Russia, China, North Korea, all nuclear-armed. And he’s careful to avoid any personal risks, either in the Octagon or in war.
He had an opportunity when he was called to serve in the Vietnam War. But he famously dodged the draft. A reporter last week asked him whether Americans should worry about retaliation from Iran. His reply: “Some people will die.” For others, violence is risky. For him, it’s pure theatre.
Peter Hartcher is international editor.
Peter Hartcher is political editor and international editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.
