President Donald Trump is trying to project brute strength as he turns 80, but mounting political problems at home and abroad are tarnishing his self-styled image as an all-powerful leader.
Trump will celebrate becoming an octogenarian as he hosts an extravagant, $60 million Ultimate Fighting Championship showcase on the White House South Lawn Sunday night.
He has made a habit of attending high-profile sporting events, including the NBA Finals in New York earlier this week. And he’s announced he will headline a rally on the National Mall to mark the US’s 250th birthday.
It’s an all-out effort to inject himself into nearly every corner of American culture. But political spectacle, and overseeing the body blows of mixed martial-arts fighters, can’t hide that Trump’s political capital is declining. He is struggling to end an unpopular war with Iran, some fellow Republicans have begun to resist his ideas and polls show his support outside his devoted base is waning.
In public, Trump has expressed nothing but confidence. But privately, he has become increasingly frustrated, according to a person close to the White House, who requested anonymity to discuss internal dynamics.
Some of Trump’s public appearances have instead revealed the depth of the public’s antipathy toward him. The crowd inside Madison Square Garden resoundingly booed Trump at the NBA Finals game when he was shown on the arena’s big screen, though he reported hearing “mostly cheers.” He announced his 250th anniversary rally plan only after musical acts pulled out of scheduled performances, citing the political nature of the celebrations.
On top of that, as only the second US president to turn 80 in office, he is facing questions about his age and abilities.
“There’s a feeling when you hear someone is 80 that they are incapacitated,” presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said. “President Trump is trying to show himself to the manosphere as being fit as a fiddle, golfing regularly. And he wants to associate himself with things like wrestling and race cars and the Knicks game to show he is out and about and at full capacity.”
The dynamic is playin
