Advertisement Supported by The Opinions The Spectacle of Trump at 80 An octogenarian president for a 250-year-old republic. By Robert SiegelE.J. Dionne Jr. and Peter Wehner Produced by Vishakha Darbha What does it say about President Trump — and America — that the soon-to-be octogenarian plans to celebrate his 80th birthday with a series of U.F.C. matches on the White House lawn?
On “The Opinions,” the Times contributor Robert Siegel and fellow contributors E.J. Dionne Jr. and Peter Wehner debate this form of “human cockfighting,” and take stock of the state of the nation ahead of America’s 250th birthday. The Spectacle of Trump at 80 Below is a transcript of an episode of “The Opinions.” We recommend listening to it in its original form for the full effect.
You can do so using the player above or on the NYTimes app, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. The transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Robert Siegel: We’re going to start by taking note of the birthday that falls on this weekend — Donald Trump’s 80th.
We went more than two centuries without having an octogenarian in the White House, and now we’ve had two in a row, and I’d like to hear your thoughts about Trump at 80, and especially how that landmark is going to be observed. The Ultimate Fighting Championship will present a seven-fight card in a cage that’s been hoisted onto the White House South Lawn.
E.J., why don’t you start things off? First of all, this birthday celebration is billed both as U.F.C. Freedom 250 and U.F.C. at the White House. It’s been folded into the celebration of the country’s 250th birthday. E.J. Dionne: Well, first, to anyone out there thinking that all of us are ignorant about M.M.A., I want to point out that you, some years ago, did a 13-minute piece on NPR, quite fair and balanced — forgive me for using that term — that included a philosopher who does M.M.A., so let’s get that out of the way.
Siegel: And it included a very young reporter, Tam Keith, out of San Francisco, who went and witnessed the fight for us. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
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