In 2004, the band Modest Mouse released an album called “Good News for People Who Love Bad News.” I think of this album title every time I get any news about politics in the U.S.
The lead-up to this country’s 250th anniversary has brought much misery to my timeline.
Take the UFC ring built on the White House lawn so that Trump could have a fight in his yard for his birthday. To say it’s tacky is an understatement. But with Trump in office, everything about the White House is tacky. Or gone. Remember how he tore down an entire wing of the White House without warning or permission? That was fucked.
Anyway, if you’re not familiar, UFC stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship. It’s two shirtless guys barefoot in a cage who beat the shit out of one another. It’s like boxing, but with the whole body as your weapon.
Oh, and sidenote: to the person who told me that the UFC ring was built on the White House lawn to host a fight between Trump and Pete Hegseth, how dare you get my hopes up.
I abhor violence and think that UFC and boxing is barbaric. But I understand that it’s popular in the U.S. And I understand why. It’s the same reason so many people still like Trump: Americans love violence and spectacle.
I think this also helps to explain why Americans love conspiracy theories so much. Conspiracy theories turn everyday stories into spectacle. They also turn truth into an unattainable mirage in the information landscape. If anything can be true, then nothing is true.
A popular transphobic conspiracy theory found its way to Trump’s UFC Birthday Boy Extravaganza.
As The Advocate reports, “After his victory at [the] UFC Freedom 250 event honoring Donald Trump’s 80th birthday, heavyweight Josh Hokit threw a fist in the air and shouted into a microphone held by podcaster Joe Rogan, ‘And lastly, Michelle Obama is a man! Am I right, America!?’”
Oh yeah, did I mention Joe Rogan was there? He’s dabbled in many conspiracy theories himself.
After his declaration, Hokit, wearing red, white and blue spandex shorts, turned and walked to the other side of the ring.
The Advocate continues, “Hokit’s comment drew a smattering of whoops and hollers from the audience, but didn’t seem to elicit the response he had been hoping for.”
Whomp whomp.
Why would Hokit use his time on a national stage (or should I say white nationalist stage) to say such a bizarre and untrue thing?
Maybe he was trying to impress the birthday boy. Trump is, after all, racist, sexist and hates the Obamas. He hates President Obama so much that he has tried to undo everything the Obama administration did, including the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. Like, we literally went to war with Iran because of Trump’s Obama hatred. Think of that next time you fill up your gas tank.
The conspiracy theory that Michelle Obama is a man — or, more specifically, transgender — is not new. It’s been floating around for many years. It isn’t true, but right-wing extremists cannot fathom a strong, confident woman existing. Not to mention the fact that she’s tall and has buff arms.
A related conspiracy theory is that Barack Obama is gay. Oh, and he’s a demon and smells of sulphur.
Casting doubt on Michelle Obama’s gender and Barack Obama’s sexuality is supposed to be insulting, to them and to the people who voted for Obama. They think that being gay or being transgender are two of the worst things a person can be.
This isn’t true, of course. But that has never stopped a conspiracy theory before. In fact, given that the U.S. is being run by a bunch of conspiracy theorists, it could be argued that in a UFC fight between the two, truth is gonna get its ass kicked.
We’ve heard a lot about protecting democracy in the U.S., often from Democrats who then turn around and vote for Trump’s terrible nominees for judges and cabinet positions.
But the truth is, democracy is on the brink of collapse. Voting rights, especially voting rights for Black Americans, are being decimated. Trump and his supporters are trying very hard to cement Republican control so they can criminalize homosexuality again, take away our marriage rights, erase transgender people from public life, and become the uterus police, outlawing abortion nationwide.
The fact is, 250 years is nothing. The United States is a very young country. Countries like Iran and China are way older. By thousands of years.
The U.S. could absolutely fall, failing as a country because we didn’t live up to the ideals we are supposed to be founded on. It is not at all outside of the realm of possibility.
The U.S. could absolutely change and live up to those ideals, too. But only if the people have the will to make it happen.