Trump Uses Sports to Push 1980s Agenda, From $8.4 Million Transfer to a $30 Million UFC Loss
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Sep 9
Trump Uses Sports to Push 1980s Agenda, From $8.4 Million Transfer to a $30 Million UFC Loss
2 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Sep 9
Summary
Sports has become one of Donald Trump’s clearest political vehicles, with the report arguing he is using it to push a cultural rollback toward his preferred 1980s order.
An $8.4 million transfer of LAFC winger David Martínez to Denmark’s FC Midtjylland illustrates the spillover: the Venezuelan left after visa barriers kept family from visiting, reflecting broader curbs that make the US less attractive to foreign athletes.
Trump has also intervened more directly through executive actions and public pressure, including moves targeting transgender participation, college-athlete freedoms and even the Army-Navy game’s protected TV window.
His sports-centered politics extends to spectacle, from becoming the first sitting president at a Super Bowl to staging a White House UFC event that reportedly lost $30 million and promoting a disruptive Washington IndyCar race.
The broader effect, the report says, is that sports has become a rare arena where Trump has successfully shifted national debate onto his preferred cultural terms.