From UFC to MAGA – How fight sports shaped Trump’s macho politics

The Bunker

Podmasters

News, Politics, Society & Culture, Government

4.6 • 984 Ratings

🗓️ 23 May 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Donald Trump is obsessed with sport – and increasingly, sports stars are obsessed with him. From his ties to wrestling through to his connection to the UFC, fight sports in particular have shaped the way he approaches politics. To discuss this journey, Jacob Jarvis is joined by Tom Kludt, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, who recently wrote a piece headlined A Guide to Donald Trump’s Jockocracy: 100 Days of Sports and Politics. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editors: Sara Farolfi. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	We run adverts on our podcast so we can pay our team and our freelancers, but we know that
0:05.7	commercial messages are not everyone's cup of tea. So if you'd rather listen without ads,
0:10.8	there's an easy solution. Just support us on Patreon for ad-free episodes. Follow the link in the
0:16.7	show notes to find out more. Hi, this is Ava from Vanta.
0:25.0	In today's digital world, compliance regulations are changing constantly.
0:28.0	And earning customer trust has never mattered more.
0:31.7	Vanta helps companies get compliant fast and stay secure,
0:35.6	with the most advanced AI automation and continuous monitoring out there.
0:40.6	So whether you're a startup going for your first SOC 2 or 27,001, or a growing enterprise managing vendor risk, Banta makes it quick, easy and scalable.
0:45.0	And I'm not to saying that because I work here.
0:46.8	Get started today at banta.com. Donald Trump has a long history of being obsessed with sports.
1:01.4	He's tried very unsuccessfully to buy NFL teams in the past,
1:04.9	and he played American football in his younger days when he attended the New York Military Academy.
1:10.0	This obsession has continued into his political
1:12.4	era and in a TV appearance with Dr. Oz in the run-ups of the 2016 election, he said,
1:17.8	I'm a big believer in the whole world of sports with his usual brand of emphatic vagueness.
1:23.4	Then, since returning to the White House, he's been spotted at the UFC, he's had visits from
1:27.4	Super Bowl winners, and he's played golf on 24 occasions.
1:30.7	At least, that's how many times he's played it at the time of recording.
1:34.4	So, how does this obsession shape his worldview and approach to politics?
1:39.1	I'm Jacob Jarvis, and joining me to discuss this in The Bunker is Tom Clute, a contributing editor
1:43.8	at Vanity Fair,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Podmasters, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Podmasters and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.