'Trump is playing Gatsby': Cory Booker slams UFC Spectacle amid deepening cost-of-living crisis

Senator Cory Booker invoked a popular literary reference to slam President Donald Trump's plan to hold Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Freedom 250 at the White House South Lawn on Sunday, calling it the act of a 'Gatsby-like' figure using public property for personal indulgence. "This UFC spectacle at the White House, dripping with corporate sponsors and pay-to-play billions, is crass corruption while families struggle to afford groceries, rent, and healthcare. This grift must end," he wrote on X.

In an interview with MS NOW, the New Jersey Democrat — now in his third term — pointed out that the event, coinciding with Trump's 80th birthday, has received funding from multiple corporations, drawing a parallel to Trump's controversial ballroom project, where donors were reportedly rewarded with government contracts worth billions. "This is more of his pay-to-play, his grift and graft. A small investment gets you pay-to-play access. So this whole thing is frankly cruel when people are reeling from an economic crisis," he averred.

Many critics have likened the spectacle to the gladiatorial games staged by emperors in ancient Rome during periods of grain shortages and economic unrest — a calculated move to divert public anger away from economic suffering. Booker's criticism taps into this same narrative, arguing that staging a glitzy combat-sports event at the White House risks suggests that political theater and donor optics are taking precedence over the economic anxieties of everyday citizens.

Booker's opinion may not be in the minority and resonated with the American public at large, who have largely rejected the event. Only 16 percent said it was appropriate for the president to hold the event, whereas 46 percent called it inappropriate, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Among Republicans, only 31 percent found it appropriate, a notable figure given that roughly eight in 10 Republicans approve of Trump's overall performance in the White House, the poll revealed.

"The federal government has remained defiant in the face of mounting criticism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio compared the spectacle to the moon landing, arguing that the United States is a nation "founded on doing what no one else dared to do, and no one else aspired to do." He also framed the event as a gift to the American people — a gift that, according to the poll, only a few appear to want at the moment.

Criticism is not the only storm cloud hanging over the event ostensibly held to celebrate America's 250th anniversary. The weather forecast predicts severe thunderstorms, life-threatening lightning, and strong winds that could complicate an event unlike any attempted before, one that reportedly cost nearly $60 million. This is only compounded by a sweltering day, with the heat index expected to reach as high as 106.