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TRANSCRIPT
Alex Wagner: It’s more than just a chant. It’s a statement of priorities and principles.
Jane Coaston: Yes.
Alex Wagner: And like everybody was saying it.
Jane Coaston: Yes.
Alex Wagner: And it went viral.
Jane Coaston: Absolutely.
Alex Wagner: What what went viral from Trump’s UFC fight? An insult, a racist, horrible insult to the former first lady of the United States. [music break]
Jane Coaston: I’m Jane Coaston and this is What a Day, the show shouting out the New York Knicks for casting out the bad vibes of President Donald Trump to win its first NBA title in 53 years in San Antonio on Saturday. Naturally, everyone in New York kept it very chill, demure, even.
[clip of unknown NY Knicks enthusiast] We just won the NBA Finals for the first time in 50 years, like this is insane!
Jane Coaston: Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that the victory parade will be on Thursday. In case you needed a New Yorker to do anything that day, sorry. On today’s show, we talk about Trump’s UFC birthday spectacular with Alex Wagner, host of Crooked Media’s Runaway Country. Before we get into all that, here’s what we’re following today, Monday, June 15th.
[clip of Vice President J.D. Vance] I think it’s a great day for the American people because what this deal does fundamentally is two things. It immediately reopens the Straits of Hormuz. We’re already seeing in the past 24 hours more traffic flow. You see oil prices coming down, but you also have the long-term commitment that Iran will never develop or procure a nuclear weapon.
Jane Coaston: Well, this sounds familiar. Vice President J.D. Vance spoke to CNBC today about the initial agreement reached between the U.S. and Iran. The agreement would extend the shaky ceasefire and lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Which we closed. Hooray for the Trump administration trying to fix a problem it created. Pakistan, which has been mediating, said the deal would be signed on Friday in Switzerland. But even if the Strait fully opens then, it will likely take months for the global energy crisis to ease. Still, significant challenges remain to ending the war, including whether Israel will continue its offensive in Lebanon.
[clip of President Donald Trump] I think a lot of great things are going to happen in the Middle East right now.
Jane Coaston: Trump started his visit to the Group of Seven summit in France today by hailing his agreement aimed at ending the Iran War as a potential breakthrough for global security. He also made clear that he arrived with the wind at his back for talks with G7 leaders, including some who have been critical of how he’s managed the war, which has led to a surge in global energy prices. Trump spoke while sitting next to French President Emmanuel Macron during a bilateral meeting.
[clip of President Donald Trump] The Iran deal that we made is going to bring a lot of a lot of success to the world because the oil was really clogged up there for a while. He would call me on occasion and say, come on, please, let’s go, the oil prices.
Jane Coaston: Unsurprisingly, Macron congratulated Trump on the agreement, saying it’s important for world peace. Because Macron knows Trump loves peace. Ukraine officially started negotiations to join the European Union today, launching a process that will require its government to commit to years of political reforms, even as it continues to fight a Russian invasion. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a cathedral in one of Eastern Orthodox Christianity’s most sacred landmarks was set ablaze early Monday. As Russia bombarded Ukraine’s biggest cities. Zelensky said at least 11 people were killed. The attack came after Zelensky and Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke separately by phone with Trump on Sunday. Leaders of the G7 summit are also set to discuss the war in Ukraine and talks tomorrow.
[clip of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer] Thousands of parents say their children are addicted to social media. It can leave them trapped in a cycle of endless scrolling that displaces play, sleep and time with the family. It can harm their mental health. And frankly, parents need our support on this.
Jane Coaston: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that Britain will ban children under 16 from using a range of social media apps like Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube. Ironically, he posted his announcement on Twitter. The ban, which is expected to take effect early next year, makes the UK part of a global movement to tighten online safety for children. Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Indonesia have also introduced legislation or announced age-based rules for children’s access to social media. Now I’m thinking about a certain orange 80-year-old who also might need to be barred from social media. And that’s the news. Let’s talk about Trump’s big White House birthday bash. If you didn’t tune into Paramount Plus to watch the UFC Freedom 250 fight on the White House lawn because you had better things to do, here’s what you missed. The fights were delayed an hour by terrible weather, and the winner of the heavyweight bout, who appeared to vomit during his weigh-in, celebrated his victory by calling former First Lady Michelle Obama, a man. So yeah, it was pretty terrible and very Trumpian. In fact, the entire 250th celebration of America’s founding has felt remarkably Trumpian, implying that the only way to be an American is to be a Trump supporter. Which isn’t true. Not even a little bit. So how can those of us who love this country but hate this bullshit respond? To find out, I talked to Alex Wagner, host of Crooked Media’s Runaway Country. Alex, welcome back to What a Day.
Alex Wagner: Oh, Jane, it’s so great to see you on this 250th birthday of America.
Jane Coaston: Speaking of which, yesterday the White House hosted the UFC Freedom 250 fight. It was in theory for America’s 250th anniversary because America loves people getting kicked in the face. But we all know it was an 80th birthday celebration for Trump. Did you watch it? Because I did not. I watched six to seven hours of World Cup soccer.
Alex Wagner: As you should, I have a Paramount Plus subscription and I did not watch it because I like everybody else who is still, I don’t know, tethered to a more equitable and peaceful existence wanted to watch the World Cup, the beautiful game, the game the rest of the world is watching and it did not disappoint Jane. However, that did not mean the spectacle of Trump’s birthday celebration did not reach the um shores of my conscience.
Jane Coaston: So there have been a lot of takes about this, because of course there are. And what got me is that people acting as if like, oh, yo, America, real America loves MMA. Now, I’ve watched a number of fights, I’ve been a fan, fine. There are so many more popular sports in the US, like so many more. I was suggesting to my producer, I’m like, you know, they could have done a baseball game, like a big American baseball game on the White House lawn. I think, like, the grounds, I think it could have worked. What are your thoughts about this being the first pro-sports event at the White House?
Alex Wagner: Yes, it could have been a baseball game, but Trump by nature, first of all, he’s a fight promoter.
Jane Coaston: Yeah.
Alex Wagner: He always has been. He’s the, you know, he is our Don King um and he has been one for decades and it I suppose should surprise nobody that the kind of pastime he enjoys most is not a pastime of skill and artistry, but one of brute strength, blood and gore. And one that conveniently is a good promotional vehicle for cryptocurrency, monster energy drinks, Ram trucks and Bud Light. Bud Light and maybe Monster Energy drinks could find a home at um, you know, in the fourth inning of a Nats baseball game, but cryptocurrency in particular seems very UFC adjacent. So maybe that’s one of the reasons, but really it’s constitutionally, I think Trump is really interested in sports where people are hurt and bloodied and either win or lose and that’s it.
Jane Coaston: We’ll get back to my conversation with Alex in a moment, because our ground game is peerless. But if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Spotify and Apple podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads.
[AD BREAK]
Jane Coaston: Let’s get back to my conversation with Alex Wagner. It feels as if also the spectacle of the event. Seemed to overshadow the fact that for people I know and was reading about who watched the fights, they were like, the fights weren’t very good.
Alex Wagner: Yeah, well, I think that was kind of beside the point.
Jane Coaston: Yeah.
Alex Wagner: The point was the cage, the point was the jets flying overhead. The point was, the blood on the floor. The point was this kind of relentless um jingoism, styled as patriotism. The point was promotion. The point was to give a [?] you know a freebie to the Ellisons. The point was corporate overindulgence. You know, it really was never about the actual physical artistry, if we can even use that phrase for UFC, but it wasn’t even about elite athletic performance it’s about brute strength and the most toxic displays of masculinity all rolled into some version of like, I guess, celebrating America’s 250th, but really servicing the malignant narcissism of Donald Trump. And and and by the way, to your point, owning, you know, giving a middle finger to anybody who feels outside of this, like the sort of violent exclusion is also the point. Um, and that’s why one of the fighters got up there and ended his screed about, um, his I guess, faithfulness and his belief in Jesus by saying, also, Michelle Obama is a man. Like that’s that’s the like level of, quote unquote, “patriotism” that Donald Trump had on display. People desecrating the the, I don’t even know how to sort of really phrase this.
Jane Coaston: Right.
Alex Wagner: But desecrating the reputation of a first lady who lived in that very same house with her daughters and husband.
Jane Coaston: Yeah, and I think it’s also telling that Dana White, the president of UFC, was like, you know this is an event for everybody. He wanted Super Bowl level numbers. But this event, and I think if I were a UFC fan, I’d be very concerned about this. The entire thing was like this is just for Trump supporters. This was evidently for one group of people, one specific group of people and it wasn’t, you know, everyday Americans, because they probably don’t have Paramount Plus.
Alex Wagner: Yes.
Jane Coaston: It wasn’t for a whole host of people who were either priced out of the event, who were just pushed pushed out of being a part of this, because not just because of the cost, but also because of the obvious politics.
Alex Wagner: Well, it wasn’t even an event for Republicans, I think the polling, the Reuters Ipsos polling shows that like 31% of Republicans approved of this gruesome spectacle on the White House grounds. It was incredibly exclusionary, but I also think made even more so by the Knicks win on Saturday and the World Cup on Sunday.
Jane Coaston: Yeah.
Alex Wagner: When you are really can feast your eyes and your heart on what America of today and the future looks like, which is a a crowd of people that are economically diverse, racially diverse, politically diverse, a truly unifying moment when you see people out in the streets of New York City, where cops are celebrating with, you know, immigrants are celebrating, men and women, trans community, straight community. It was literally a win for the honestly I know it was a New York game but it really felt like just an incredibly unifying thing to happen on the eve of such an exclusive, and again, like punitively exclusive event on the White House, which makes it so appalling, right? It’s the people’s house. I mean, if anything should be bringing the country together in the context of America’s semi-sesquintennial, I think I got that right, it’s something at the White House. But in fact, and by the way, the owner of the Knicks was at the White House, so we’ll just set that aside for the moment, but like.
Jane Coaston: Yup.
Alex Wagner: You know, the NBA actually had a did a better job of celebrating America than this the Trump White House and FIFA, riddled though it is with corruption and scandal and many other bad things. But the World Cup also shows us what a diverse and unifying moment looks like. And it’s a shame that, you know, our country has chosen to elect this man and this is how he’s sort of taken the notion of patriotism and the celebration of the history and the rich heritage of this country and sort of um degraded it to be an exercise in toxic white masculinity.
Jane Coaston: Yes, as a wise sage once said, [fake throat clear] my mayor still Muslim.
Alex Wagner: Yes!
Jane Coaston: My bagel still Jewish, the Pope’s on our side.
Alex Wagner: Yeah.
Jane Coaston: Knicks in five.
Alex Wagner: I watched that six times, six times. Like, and one just over and over again. I will be writing about it on my sub stack, How the Hell with Alex Wagner. I am very moved by that in many ways. It’s more than just a chant. It’s a statement of priorities and principles.
Jane Coaston: Yes.
Alex Wagner: And like everybody was saying it.
Jane Coaston: Yes.
Alex Wagner: And it went viral.
Jane Coaston: Absolutely.
Alex Wagner: What went viral from Trump’s UFC fight? An insult, a racist, horrible insult to the former first lady of the United States. I’ll take. I’ll take um the Knicks chant over that any fucking day.
Jane Coaston: Yeah, and to your point in a few weeks America will celebrate its 250th birthday all of America the whole place from Eugene Oregon to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This is for the whole country. But President Trump will celebrate with as he put it on Truth Social quote, “the most spectacular Trump rally of them all, ‘a tribute to America'” Because he put it in quotes and so will I. Like I think that this is indicative of how we have I mean and this has been the challenge. And this is something I’ve talked a lot about. I’m a very patriotic person. I love this country. I believe in this country, I have embraced like cool dad patriotism. I love a lot of like books about World War II and talking about tanks. And I believe that this country can be improved, but I believe it is a wonderful place and that I love it very much. How can people who love this county and hate everything that’s going on right now take this milestone back?
Alex Wagner: Um, number one is do not cede the ground of patriotism to the toxic right, for sure. My mom made bumper stickers with the flag on them that said proud Democrat, and I am all about reappropriating the, you know, the signs and symbols of not nationalism.
Jane Coaston: Right.
Alex Wagner: But patriotism in a national sense. Um. But I also think part of being a good citizen is civic engagement. So maybe that’s a day of service. Maybe that’s protest. Maybe that’s writing something, maybe that’s talking to your neighbor, but it is doing something specific and concrete to sort of re-tether yourself, I think, to to this country. And and I think not giving up on democracy is all about making choices and making reinvestments in your your sort of like, we’re given this moment in this extraordinary you know spin cycle of history and I do think in large part about the sort of planting a quite literally a flag in the ground and saying, this is what America means to me and this is how I’m celebrating it, but to not let it go unmarked. I mean I do, because I do think we need to remind each other what this country is all about, because the guy at the top who’s not notionally leading the country certainly is not interested in the presidency or the country in a sort of, in the biggest picture. He’s interested in the power that you can accrue in the office of president.
Jane Coaston: Yes.
Alex Wagner: And so the job of like real patriotism falls to the citizens. And that’s why I think it’s it’s about making a conscious decision to reclaim the symbols, to decide what kind of citizen you’re gonna be and to engage with the democracy in a way that feels authentic and meaningful. And that what I would suggest people do in and around the 250th celebration. Maybe again, like maybe that’s service, maybe that’s debate, maybe that’s protest, I don’t know what it is, but do something.
Jane Coaston: Yes like the Japan fans in Texas, maybe go get a steak. Enjoy yourself.
Alex Wagner: Totally, have some apple pie in Seattle.
Jane Coaston: Exactly.
Alex Wagner: Go take a couple hours at, you know, a soup kitchen in Tallahassee. But like, there is a need for us to knit ourselves back to each other and reaffirm sort of shared humanity and shared citizenship, even if people don’t have papers. And like, no better time to do it than in the shadow of Trump’s monstrous 250th celebrations.
Jane Coaston: Alex, as always, thank you for joining me.
Alex Wagner: Dude, thanks for having me. I love going off about soccer and the Knicks.
Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Alex Wagner, host of Runaway Country.
[AD BREAK]
Jane Coaston: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review. Be glad you didn’t bet a million dollars on Spain beating Cape Verde today and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading, and not just about how Cape Verde, the smallest country by land to compete in this year’s World Cup, held Spain scoreless in one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history, like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston, and don’t bet on sports. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. Our show is produced by Caitlin Plummer, Emily Fohr, Erica Morrison, and Adriene Hill. Our team includes Hayley Jones, Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Joseph Dutra, Johanna Case, and Desmond Taylor. Our music is by Kyle Murdock and Jordan Cantor. We had help today from the Associated Press. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.
