The former president’s appearance at a U.F.C. fight in Newark on Saturday night showcased his hypermasculine appeal, and his defiance.
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Donald Trump appeared ringside with Dana White, chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Sixteen thousand people erupted into rapture when Donald J. Trump walked into the Prudential Center in Newark at 10 p.m. Saturday to attend an Ultimate Fighting Championship match. He stayed until the grisly end, at 1:15 a.m.
It was his first public outing since being convicted on 34 felony counts two days earlier. He walked out to Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass,” a rock-rap trailer park anthem that samples Metallica’s “Sad But True” and has become the unofficial soundtrack of Mr. Trump’s quest to recapture the White House.
Chosen one, I’m the living proof
With the gift of gab, from the city of truth
I jabbed and stabbed and knocked critics back
A moment after Mr. Trump took his seat, the stadium took up a spontaneous chant of President Biden’s name preceded by an expletive.
And then, even louder: “We love Trump!”
After days holed up in the city that convicted him, Mr. Trump had designed his appearance on Saturday as a reset — cheaper than staging a campaign rally and possibly just as effective in casting him as a persecuted hero. His campaign quickly cut his triumphant march into the arena into a video that it used to launch his new TikTok account, showing him striding into the arena, waving and smiling for selfies, alongside Dana White, the chief executive of the U.F.C.
The two men, who have a long history, sat next to each other ringside. Behind them were Mr. Trump’s entourage: his son and daughter-in-law, Eric and Lara; his son-in-law Michael Boulos, who is married to Tiffany Trump; a small group of donors; his spokesman, Steven Cheung, who previously worked for the U.F.C.; and, as ever, Mr. Trump’s valet, Walt Nauta, who has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of conspiring with Mr. Trump to obstruct the government’s attempt to retrieve classified documents.
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Source: nytimes.com