I have no desire to watch two savages beat each other in an octagonal cage. I appreciate that others do. To each his own. But was the “garish spectacle” at the White House, enmeshing government with crass commercialism culminating in a fighter proclaiming Michelle Obama is a man, and ironically putting some sort of necklace around Trump’s neck which he praised as “bling,” what should come from the presidency?

My views are captured fairly well by Will Leitch, that this was an absurdity.

If you found it bizarre, surreal and downright flabbergasting to witness the spectacle of the Ultimate Fighting Championship holding a massive event on the White House lawn, with sweaty men being escorted from the Oval Office to a glowing octagon to go punch each other as the president and his war cabinet cheered them on, you were not alone. You should know that the fighters and many people in the U.F.C. appeared to feel the same way. Maybe even more so.

Of course, the fighters felt so in the good way, not the disgraceful exhibit of Trump debasing everything about America for his own glorification way.

Assuming, however, that not everyone here shares my opinion of the evening’s “festivities,” it seems appropriate to offer anyone who wishes to express their view. Was this Trump fiddling while Iran burns, a manifestation of the decline of America, the death of what little dignity remained in the White House after Trump redecorated the Oval Office in early Bordello, the demonstration of faux masculinity by an obese draft dodger, the debasement of the last remaining shred of integrity as Crypto.com was plastered on every open space that wasn’t bought by another advertiser?

The president looked legitimately delighted to greet each fighter. It may, in fact, have been all a birthday boy could have possibly wanted: to see all his favorite toys punch each other in his honor. One does wonder if some of that time might have been better served hashing out the finer points of a preliminary agreement to end the war with Iran — a deal that was announced by Mr. Trump on Truth Social before the event. The reported details changed repeatedly throughout the night, even as the Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth sat in attendance at the event alongside Mr. Trump.

Or was this just good clean fun for an underrepresented cohort who enjoyed blood splattered beneath a claw? Perhaps there was something about this extravaganza I missed?