Trump, Musk, and new cabinet picks celebrate election victory with surprise appearance at UFC
Trump was greeted by thunderous applause from the crowd.
Donald Trump celebrated his election victory with a surprise appearance at UFC 309 on Saturday.
The president-elect, flanked by UFC chief Dana White, arrived at Madison Square Garden to thunderous applause and cheers from the packed-out crowd.
Trump was joined at the event by some of his new inner circle, including his picks to lead the new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) — Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, incoming national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard, and Robert F Kennedy Jr., whom Trump nominated as health secretary this week.
Trump could also be spotted reuniting with Joe Rogan, the host of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” after his hit appearance on the podcast in October.
And the warm reception didn’t end there for the president-elect, with what can only be described as a Trump hype video playing on the big screen for spectators.
Heavyweight champion Jon Jones also made a point of thanking Trump for attending in his post-fight interview.
“I also want to say a big, big thank you to President Donald Trump for being here tonight,” Jones said, before imitating Trump’s “YMCA” dance.
🚨BREAKING: Donald Trump arrives to UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden with Elon Musk, RFK Jr, Kid Rock, Speaker Mike Johnson, Dana White and more pic.twitter.com/FfdTqK8du2
— America (@america) November 17, 2024
Trump spent most of the evening sitting between White and Tesla CEO Musk, with whom he has been somewhat inseparable since the election.
Musk — the world’s richest person — went all in on supporting Trump’s presidential campaign in the summer, pouring millions of dollars into a super PAC and holding his own rallies to try to get him elected.
In his new role as co-leader of DOGE, Musk’s main task will be to advise on areas of government spending to cut.
And he has already shared some of his plans for how he’ll run the agency.
Writing on X on Wednesday, Musk said the DOGE’s actions “will be posted online for maximum transparency” and that he will launch a leaderboard to track “insanely dumb” government spending.
“Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know!” he added.
