Why Military Was at the UFC White House Event

Mission, or "just following orders"?

The press covered last weekend's White House UFC Freedom 250 event as a story about taste and whether the spectacle was befitting a president: the soaring dirt bikes, cage matches on the South Lawn, the vulgar remark about Michelle Obama. The real story, which drew hardly any attention, stood in formation around the ring — the U.S. military.

About a dozen different military organizations participated, bestowing faux dignity (and real harm by eroding the taboo against military involvement in public life). The military has no real mission or obligation here. So why did the brass play along?

They were, you see, just following orders.

The lack of media attention to the military presence was baffling to me. It’s not like they were hard to miss. Here’s a list I made of all the military personnel involved in the event:

• An Armed Forces Full Honor Cordon at the Lincoln Memorial. The day before the fights, the competitors descended the memorial steps for their weigh-in through a corridor of sixteen service members in dress uniform — the military’s highest ceremonial reception, normally reserved for visiting heads of state and the funerals of dead presidents and war heroes.

• The Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon. The precision-rifle ceremonial unit stationed at Marine Barracks Washington, which opened the event.

• A joint color guard. At the event, each service branch provided a tall good-looking soldier to present the flag and stand for the national anthem.

• The United States Marine Band. The 160-piece band played the fighters’ walkout music as they emerged from inside the White House.

• U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps. The Revolutionary War–costumed musicians of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, in red regimental coats patterned after Washington’s Continental Army, lined the Octagon.

• The Joint Armed Forces Chorus. The all-service chosen elite singers back the Zac Brown Band for the singing of the national anthem.

• U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. F-16 Fighting Falcons fighter jets flew overhead in a combined pass over the South Lawn at the national anthem’s climax.

• U.S. Navy Blue Angels. F/A-18 Super Hornets fighter jets flew with the Thunderbirds as Donald Trump saluted from the Blue Room Balcony.

• Uniformed officers serving as aides. Officers from ceremonial units and the White House Military Office escorted civilian VIPs in formation.

• The National Guard handled site security alongside federal police, you know, the National Guard troops that couldn’t make it to the Capitol on January 6th until it was all over.

• The Audience. Some 1,200 active-duty and reserve troops filled the seats and provided the majority of the crowd, other UFC fans evidently too rowdy to be admitted to the White House grounds.

Pentagon Directive 1344.10 instructs service members to avoid any activity that could reasonably be viewed as associating the Defense Department with partisan politics. It bars them from marching in a partisan parade or wearing the uniform to a partisan event. The military’s Joint Ethics Regulation goes further on the commercial side: the armed forces may not lend their name — or their uniforms and insignia — to endorse a private enterprise (the UFC). Nor may they use military material or federal money to promote a brand. A Trump-inspired, nationally televised, corporately branded prizefight is about as far from “avoiding the appearance” as one can imagine.

I’m not much of a rules guy personally, but the spirit behind those rules is important: that it’s not good for democracy if people become accustomed to military in public life.

Trump is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and I know many people argue that this makes such ceremonial use of the armed forces legit. I’ve heard similar arguments from military officers when I’ve asked around about whether this isn’t the bigger scandal. That’s what these units are for, some say. It’s a big recruiting event, say others.

Both lines of argument are unconvincing. The military let itself be used, too wimpy to enter the Octagon of integrity, oblivious to the corrosiveness of the message.

Six years ago, after President Trump walked across a forcibly cleared Lafayette Square for a photo op showing him with a bible, the most senior officer in the United States military felt compelled afterwards to apologize for merely being there, the political stench associated with the walk in the park too much for him. “I should not have been there,” Gen. Mark Milley said afterwards, because his presence “created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.” Think about that: even Milley, one of the most stridently political military leaders in memory, knew he’d fucked up and even reportedly weighed resigning over it.

The military loves to fancy itself as an institution above the political fray — a reputation they’ve dined out on ravenously, with polling showing that it is one of the only institutions most Americans still have a favorable view of and confidence in. That’s why there isn’t much public outcry against the Pentagon’s audacious request for a $1.5 trillion budget.

Not a single general, admiral, or high-ranking current or former military official has publicly criticized military’s involvement at the White House event as far as I can tell.

I suspect this question never even occurred to them at all (having had some help by a media that didn’t raise it). That’s the most alarming part of all — that the military is so embedded in American political life that we don’t even notice anymore, much less question.

— Edited by William M. Arkin