ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
President Trump is celebrating his 80th birthday today with a major spectacle, a UFC match on the White House Lawn. The televised fight comes at a moment when Trump is facing criticism, including from some elements of the Republican Party, for his lack of focus on core issues for the midterms. NPR's senior national political correspondent, Mara Liasson, has been covering the political pressure on Trump, and she joins me now. Hi, Mara.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Hi there.
FLORIDO: So a UFC cage match at the White House is quite a birthday celebration. But as with anything in Washington, there are also politics involved. What message does this fight send?
LIASSON: Well, yes. Trump is 80 years old today. Happy birthday, Mr. President. And this cage match on the White House South Lawn comes at a time when age and generational change are big issues in the midterms. And his critics say Trump has been showing signs of decline. He's closed his eyes in White House meetings, although the White House denies he's fallen asleep. But this mixed martial arts fight at the White House today is meant to contradict that image of decline.
Trump's brand is supposed to be strength and toughness - fight, fight, fight. And so this event is very on brand. His base, and he is a base politician, overlaps a lot with the UFC fighting fans. In other words, young men, particularly white noncollege men. His support among that group, even though it's one of his strongest, has slipped. So in addition to being very on brand, this event is also controversial. It's very expensive. Taxpayers will be footing part of the bill.
FLORIDO: Let's talk a little bit about some of the criticism coming in about this event. Is it just from Democrats, or is it also coming from his own party?
LIASSON: Well, it's publicly from Democrats and privately from Republicans, but Democrats are quick to paint this as an example of Trump not caring about regular people. He just wants to spend money on a cage match for his birthday party or the White House ballroom. Recent financial disclosures show that Trump invested tens of thousands of dollars as recently as March in the TKO Group, which is the parent company of UFC. His family members are selling commemorative coins around the event, so it presents an ongoing image of Trump enriching himself. And then there are just critics within his own party that say he should be spending more time talking about things that Americans care about, like high prices, than doing things like watching a cage match on the White House lawn.
FLORIDO: Mara, what is the White House saying in response to that?
LIASSON: Well, the White House says Donald Trump, like presidents before him, can walk and chew gum at the same time. He can have big events, just like other presidents have gone golfing, and he's gone golfing, and still do the business of the presidency. They point to a possible memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire with Iran. They point to the operation that they say killed the leader of a drug cartel, Tren de Aragua. Plus, Trump is leaving right after the fight to head to the G7 meeting in France.
FLORIDO: What else do Republicans want Trump to be doing right now?
LIASSON: I think they want him to be on message. You know, Trump has made some very unhelpful comments recently. He said he doesn't care about the midterms. He doesn't think about Americans' financial situations when he conducts the Iran war. These are all comments that are going to appear in Democratic ads this fall. So Republicans are frustrated. It's not so much that he's having the cage match, but they also want him to be talking much more about ordinary people's concerns, and they want him to be talking about things that are going to help them hold on to their majorities in Congress.
FLORIDO: That's NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Mara, thanks.
LIASSON: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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