Dana White is thrilled to see his friend Donald Trump in the White House, but as the UFC President told Piers Morgan, he actually wanted the Republican candidate to drop out of the race after surviving an assassination attempt on the campaign trail.
‘Why are you doing this stuff?’ White asked rhetorically on Piers Morgan Uncensored. ‘Stop. I told him to stop so many times. It’s just like, ”You have such a good life, and you could do all these other things.”
According to White, Trump told him: ‘I can’t quit. You don’t ever quit. You never quit.’
‘But the thing is, with President Trump is he believes in God, and he’s very religious…He believes that, to his core, that God has spared his life to be the President and do the things that he’s going to do over the next four years.’
The July 13 shooting in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania claimed the life of one Trump supporter, Corey Comperatore. The shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by US Secret Service on the scene.
Trump’s ear was scratched during the shooting, resulting in some bleeding, but the 78-year-old continued on the campaign trail despite his injuries – and the warnings from White.
White says Trump believes he was saved by God from the assassin on July 13. However, shooter did wound one attendee, Corey Comperatore, who ultimately died from his injury
Dana White is thrilled to see his friend Donald Trump in the White House, but as the UFC President told Piers Morgan, he actually wanted the Republican candidate to drop out
‘I was flying to Italy when that happened, and my wife woke me up and said, ”They just shot President Trump,” White recalled. ‘I was freaking out, texting the family, and when I landed, I called him, and he was already home from the hospital and unfazed. I mean, unfazed, and everybody wants to talk smack.’
White criticized wrestler Dave Bautista for mocking Trump in the wake of the shooting. Bautista has repeatedly challenged Trump supporters’ belief that the former reality star is an ‘alpha male,’ once saying the billionaire wears ‘more makeup than Dolly Parton.’
‘Bautista, the old wrestler, did this skit on Trump being weak and all this stuff that I thought was disgusting and gross,’ said White. ‘Let me tell you what Bautista, and anybody else out there, the way that Trump reacted to that assassination, every man hopes that that’s the way you would react.
‘If you reacted this much to how Trump reacted to that thing, you’d be happy.’
A day ahead of Monday’s closed-door ceremony in Washington DC , the country’s once-and-future Commander in Chief is pictured alongside Rogan and White
White recently spoke on Trump’s behalf before the inauguration last month.
He focused the early part of his speech on Trump’s 312-226 electoral college victory over Kamala Harris and his 1.5-percent edge in the popular vote.
‘Not only did he win the electoral college by 86 points, but President Trump was the first Republican candidate in 20 years to win the popular vote,’ White continued. ‘He also made tremendous gains among traditional Democrat voters by increasing his support with Latin, Asian-American, black and young voters.
‘So what does that tell us?’ White asked, rhetorically. ‘Democracy is alive and well in this country. And the people have spoke loud and clear: America wants President Trump back in the White House.’
White also portrayed Trump as a hero for overcoming the media, legal system, and even an assassin’s bullet during his campaign.
‘Think about this, winning this election after everything that’s happened over the last few years is an amazing achievement and an incredible comeback story,’ White said. ‘Think of all the things President Trump had to go through to get back here, all the powerful forces that tried to take him down: the mainstream media, partisan prosecutors, assassins.
‘It’s absolutely insane what this man has been through. And only President Trump could have fought through all those obstacles, all the attacks and still come out the winner.
‘But you know what?’ White continued. ‘That’s just what he is. This guy is a winner.
President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk pose for a photo during the UFC 309
White and Trump’s fondness for each other is no secret. Trump has tapped the UFC President and CEO to speak for him at the last three Republican National Conventions, leading many to wonder if he’d serve a greater role in the White House at some point.
‘His base is Trump’s base,’ Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s former White House counselor, previously told The New York Times of White. ‘And Trump’s base is his base.’
White, however, has downplayed any potential Trump appointment.
‘Donald Trump is one of my very good friends,’ White told Sports Business Journal through a spokesperson. ‘He did a great job in his last term as president, and I know he will do an even better job the next four years. I have no personal political aspirations.’
Besides, White may provide a greater service to Trump through what The New York Times calls ‘cage-match politics.’ Trump now makes regular cage-side appearances at UFC events, where fight fans — and the fighters themselves — have showered the former President with adulation.
