Donald Trump continues to flip the Republican establishment on its head, this time declaring he’ll turn the Republican National Convention from a night full of “politicians who are going to get up and speak and speak and speak” into a “winner’s evening” full of sports stars and champions.
“We’re going to do it a little different, if it’s okay,” he said at a recent rally, as reported by the New York Times. “I’m thinking about getting some of the great sports people who like me a lot. … Our country needs to see winners. We don’t see winners anymore. We have a bunch of clowns running this country. We have people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing running our country.”
Included in his wishlist? Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight, Nascar exec Brian France, and UFC president Dana White.
“Dana White, you know Dana White?” Trump asked the crowd. “UFC. Guy’s a champion. These are champions.”
Trump has tried namedropping people from the UFC as supporters in the past, and it didn’t go well. After citing Ronda Rousey as an example of a fighter who liked him, footage of Ronda turned up with her saying “I don’t want a reality TV star running my country.”
But White is indeed a Trump supporter, as the two have a history that goes back more than a decade.
“When we bought this business, it was banned in most states. It wasn’t supported by the athletic commissions and no arenas wanted this thing,” White explained on TMZ Sports. “And Donald Trump was the first one to have us come out at the Trump Taj Mahal, not only did we host the events there, but he actually showed up and supported the events.”
“You will never hear me say a negative thing about Donald Trump. And you know what? When we did our big Fox deal, there was a big write-up in the New York Times. On the front page he wrote, ‘Congratulations, Dana. I always knew you were going to do it,’ and he sent the front page to me. So me and Donald are cool. Donald will get my vote.”
We’ll have to wait and see if White will show up for Winner’s Night at the Republican National Convention. He’s in the neighborhood around then, though: the UFC is doing a show in Chicago on July 23, a few days after the GOP convention in Cleveland that runs July 18 to 21.
(via The New York Times)