The Left Screamed About UFC Fights on the South Lawn. They Didn't Say a Word About the Topless Trans Activist Who Was Already There.

The left spent Sunday losing its mind.

There were UFC fights at the White House. President Trump was celebrating his 80th birthday and America's 250th. Dana White walked out from the Oval Office. Joe Rogan hosted. Blue Angels flew overhead. It was the most aggressively, unapologetically American thing to happen in Washington in a very long time.

And the media hated it.

Every network that has spent four years telling you Trump is a threat to democratic norms suddenly discovered that cage fights on the South Lawn were unseemly. Dangerous. Not presidential. They used words like "spectacle" — their favorite word for things they hate but cannot quite explain.

Here is what they did not say.

Not long ago, a topless trans-identifying activist twerked at the White House. That actually happened. The same media now clutching pearls over Jon Jones and freestyle fighters was almost completely silent when a shirtless man with an ideology was gyrating on the property. Zero pearl-clutching. Zero hand-wringing about institutional dignity. A few approving tweets, a shrug, move along.

Think about what that actually means.

A UFC event with American fighters, patriotic music, a Blue Angels flyover, and a president who invited tens of thousands of Americans into the national celebration? Outrage. A shirtless trans activist treating the White House like a pride parade float? Fine. Nothing to see here.

This is not inconsistency. It is a value system.

The ruling class does not have a problem with spectacle. They have a problem with your spectacle. Their spectacle is always brave, transgressive, speaking truth to power. Your spectacle — the flags, the fights, the flyovers — is crass. Embarrassing. Something to be apologized for. You are supposed to find what they find beautiful and be disgusted by what they find disgusting.

They have not learned anything since 2016. Not a single thing.

Meanwhile, outside the elite commentariat, millions of actual Americans watched. Families on the National Mall. People grilling in backyards with the broadcast on. Fans from 48 nations who traveled to the United States for the World Cup, watching a president throw a party for his country — and mean it.

UFC fighter Mauricio Ruffy knocked out Michael Chandler and quoted John 3:16 from the White House stage. "Jesus saved my life," he said. "Give your life to Jesus." At the White House. On national television. The crowd roared.

Nobody from The Atlantic has written a piece explaining how that was fine, actually.

Josh Hokit knocked out Derrick Lewis and made a crack about Michelle Obama. The establishment is furious. There will be calls for the UFC to disavow him. There will be long pieces about what this confirms about the Trump coalition.

Notice who decides which jokes are acceptable.

Sean Strickland was escorted from the fan fest by Secret Service earlier in the day. Strickland is the kind of fighter the regime cannot process — unapologetically Christian, blunt, unbothered by their disapproval. They could not have him loose at an event where people were happy and no one was afraid. He might say something true.

Jane Fonda held a protest. She organized drag queens and breathing exercises to fight "fascism." It was held in response to — and I want to be precise here — an outdoor boxing event.

Nobody will say this, but that is not a resistance. That is a tantrum.

The left used to know how to have fun. Now they have causes. Every celebration must be monitored for wrong opinions. Every crowd must be checked for unauthorized joy. America's 250th birthday is a crisis to manage, not a moment to mark.

What happened Sunday night was simpler than any of their takes can capture. America is 250 years old. The president threw a party. Fighters fought. A Brazilian fighter thanked Jesus Christ. A pilot flew a Blue Angel over the White House at 500 miles an hour.

And somewhere across town, Jane Fonda did breathing exercises in the dark.

Ask yourself which of those things looked like strength. Ask yourself which of those things looked like a country that still believes in itself.

The answer was obvious to everyone who watched. Which is exactly why the media hated it.