Idiocracy
- Olivier Costa
- il y a 3 minutes
- 6 min de lecture
There are anniversaries that elevate the soul, and then there are those that drag it down to the level of a boxing ring. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, Donald Trump has decided to turn the White House gardens into an arena where muscular athletes will exchange blows to the cheers of MAGA supporters. The president’s imposition of his personal tastes for these national celebrations – without any public discussion – is not a trivial matter. It’s a stark illustration of the authoritarian drift that has taken hold of the country over the past eighteen months.
Celebrating 250 Years with Punches and Kicks
There are many ways to celebrate a nation’s greatness. We remember the grand ceremonies and parades organized for the U.S. bicentennial in 1976, the French Revolution’s bicentennial in 1989, Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, or the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China in 2019. And then there’s the Trump way. As he prepared to celebrate both the nation’s 250th anniversary and his own 80th birthday, he had a peculiar idea: hosting a mixed martial arts (MMA) tournament – where nearly all moves are allowed –at the White House. To make it happen, a massive, half-dome metal structure was erected on the lawn, surrounded by towering bleachers, right next to the gaping construction site where his long-awaited ballroom is set to emerge.
Some might argue it’s unfair to criticize the president for his passion for MMA. After all, Jacques Chirac was a sumo wrestling enthusiast, Vladimir Putin practiced judo, and Emmanuel Macron has a taste for boxing. Besides, Trump is free to celebrate his birthday however he likes. But this event marked the official launch of the 250th-anniversary festivities on June 14. The athletes’ weigh-ins took place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and they were even given a tour of the Oval Office before stepping into the octagon. This tournament could have been held at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private residence, or at any of his other properties. But no – it had to be at the White House. Five thousand guests, selected based on physical standards that would disqualify the president himself, were invited, while another sixty thousand watched the fights on giant screens set up on the National Mall. Trump is even considering making the structure – built by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) – a permanent fixture, dwarfing the most iconic building in the country. In a video posted to his official TikTok account on June 2, 2026, he declared the structure very beautiful and claimed a lot of people love it, drawing a parallel with the Eiffel Tower, which was also initially meant to be temporary.
The Age of Idiocracy
As the Turkish proverb goes, “When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become king – the palace becomes a circus.” In the United States, idiocracy is no longer a theoretical possibility or a dystopian novel plot. It’s a reality. And it’s not the result of chance, but of a genuine epidemic of stupidity sweeping the nation. Now, unabashed foolishness reigns at the White House, under the high patronage of the UFC and Coors Light, with commentary by Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan. It feels like an episode of Black Mirror written by a drunk screenwriter – but it’s real. A reality where the greatness of the American nation is measured by the number of fighters carried out on stretchers, the intensity of the crowd’s screams at the referee, and the size of the mob gathered on the National Mall to watch the brawls.
This isn’t about denigrating a popular spectacle or displaying class contempt. It’s about highlighting the sheer inappropriateness of the choice. MMA competitions – like monster truck shows, drag races, eating contests, rodeos, and pro wrestling – are staples of white trash culture. Everyone is free to enjoy them, even with a touch of irony. But is this really the way to celebrate a nation that has long considered itself the greatest, most advanced, and most democratic in the world? Is it fitting to honor the legacy of Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr. with a spectacle of athletes trading blows until knockout, in front of a roaring crowd of MAGA-cap-wearing, beer-chugging supporters?
Trump’s Narcissistic Drift
What’s most striking about this way of celebrating America’s 250th anniversary isn’t the choice of a tacky spectacle, but Trump’s imposition of his own interests and those of his most radical supporters – with no regard for the rest of the country, its heritage, or its international image. In everything, Trump prioritizes his own conceptions, tastes, and interests – and let’s not forget he bought 50,000 shares in the company organizing the fights just before announcing this grand event. He did the same with the other major 250th-anniversary event: a concert featuring pop musicians. When the artists discovered it wasn’t organized by the bipartisan America250 foundation – which has been planning the celebrations for a decade – but by the MAGA-affiliated Freedom250, they pulled out one by one. Furious, Trump announced in one of his nightly rants on Truth Social that he would replace the concert with a massive rally centered around himself – “Elvis Presley without a guitar,” as he put it. This is just the latest in a long line of egotistical moves, from slapping his name on the Kennedy Center and countless public buildings, to signing his autograph on bank notes, commissioning a giant golden statue of himself, and considering replacing the portrait on U.S. passports and a $250 bill with his own stern visage.
One might find dark humor in the absurd turn of Trump’s second presidency, which serves as a cautionary tale about electing an unapologetic populist. But it’s still depressing that a country that has produced so many scientists, musicians, activists, philosophers, leaders, inventors, and writers is celebrating its 250th anniversary with a spectacle of athletes beating each other up and yet another rambling speech from a bitter, narcissistic president. Yet the image of a ring where everyone ends up bloodied and bruised, each claiming victory, perfectly captures what the United States has become under Trump: a country that boasts louder than ever about its greatness and leadership (“the hottest country in the world,” in Trump’s words), even as it faces brutal economic, social, and cultural decline, unprecedented global hostility, and a tangle of unwinnable international conflicts.
The Fragility of Advanced Democracies
Trump’s navel-gazing also serves as a reminder of a cardinal principle of democracy: public officials hold temporary positions and must exercise their duties with humility and respect for institutions. Even under absolute monarchies, this was understood. The phrase “The king is dead, long live the king!”– first uttered at the funeral of French king Charles VIII in 1498 – emphasized the continuity of the office beyond the individual. Trump’s decision to celebrate the nation’s anniversary with his favorite spectacle is emblematic of an autocratic drift – just like his plan to redecorate the White House with excessive moldings and gold leaf, his order to demolish an entire wing to build a ballroom, his conversion of the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool into a resort-style swimming pool, and his desire to erect a triumphal arch taller than the one at the Place de l’Étoile, in Paris. Trump has made no secret of his ambition to reshape the U.S. capital, boasting – with his usual humility – about his expertise in the matter. This kind of pretension is the hallmark of autocrats.
Trump’s hijacking of the 250th-anniversary celebrations of the Declaration of Independence also underscores a fundamental truth: democracy relies on the separation of powers and checks and balances. Even if the electoral process produces a leader with broad popular support – which was not the case for Trump in December 2024 – that leader must not be omnipotent. A system of institutions, procedures, and governing principles must constrain their actions and keep them focused on the public good. These mechanisms are currently at work in the United States: judges are blocking the president’s plans and invalidating his decisions; some Republican congressmen have broken ranks; the Democratic opposition is growing increasingly vocal; Congress is demanding accountability, particularly on the Iran dossier; and citizens are expressing their discontent on social media, in the streets, and through public opinion polls. The upcoming congressional elections are expected to deal the president a significant electoral setback, costing Republicans control of Congress.
However, Trump and his supporters’ disregard for the rule of law and the Constitution, combined with the influence of the tech and media moguls who still back him, limits the effectiveness of these checks. They have not prevented him from imposing his tastes, choices, and whims on both the domestic and international stages. This situation should serve as a warning about the potential excesses of populism, which thrives on cognitive decline, the erosion of education and information, the ubiquity of misinformation and mind-numbing entertainment, and the public’s fascination with charismatic leaders – those who can make snap decisions without bothering with analysis, science, or debate – and their contempt for countervailing powers (judges, media, opposition, civil society organizations) and the rights and interests of minorities.
Olivier Costa