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Trump Just Offered the Press Secretary Gig to UFC’s Dana White

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Cite

Hurwitz, S. (2026, November 7). Trump Just Offered the Press Secretary Gig to UFC’s Dana White. Mother Jones. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/11/trump-press-secretary-dana-white-ufc/

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Mother Jones · collected 2026-11-08 · by Sophie Hurwitz

Quick Summary

President Donald Trump offered Dana White, CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the role of White House press secretary on Truth Social. Trump also suggested that White bring several UFC fighters to work in the White House as assistants. As of now, it is unclear if White will accept the offer; he currently owns UFC and has no experience in government or journalism. This announcement comes after Katie Zacharia's recent firing from the position on October 19th.
Written by AI on 2026-11-08, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On November 9, 2026, President Donald Trump clarified that his previous day's offer to appoint UFC CEO Dana White as the new White House press secretary was a joke. Initially, on Truth Social on November 7, Trump announced he had offered the job to White, calling him "the Great Dana White" and suggesting he bring fighters to the White House for assistance. CNN reported that White reportedly declined the position after meeting with Trump in Florida on Monday. However, Trump said he was only joking when questioned by reporters on his way back from a beach club near West Palm Beach, adding that White enjoyed the idea despite not accepting it seriously.

Written for “Trump Kidding About Dana White Press Secretary Offer” on 2026-11-09, grounded in this article and the 25 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

Trump Kidding About Dana White Press Secretary Offer
Politics · 26 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

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This article reads unscored and hedges 12% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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Leans right Hedges 0 of 11 claims Outlet record 60/100
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Hedges 2 of 13 claims Outlet record 92/100
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Hedges 1 of 26 claims Outlet record 68/100
The Independent
Hedges 1 of 17 claims Outlet record 59/100
The Hindu
Leans strongly right Hedges 2 of 29 claims Outlet record 78/100
ABC News (AU)
Hedges 4 of 29 claims Outlet record 67/100
The Independent
Hedges 3 of 27 claims Outlet record 59/100
The Straits Times
Hedges 0 of 12 claims Outlet record 66/100
South China Morning Post
Leans right Hedges 1 of 2 claims Outlet record 62/100
CBC News
Hedges 0 of 23 claims Outlet record 60/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
16
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
12%
2 of 16 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
60/100
Mother Jones's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
26
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-08 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Mother Jones · 517 article(s) · 1 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 1 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Sophie Hurwitz
55 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
And after Democrats swept the legislature, even Vice President JD Vance couldn’t help but blame his party’s loss on the choice to go to war with Iran.
He also asked White to bring various muscle-bound prizefighters to the White House as assistants, presumably so that if a journalist asks a tough question, those prizefighters could then put them in a headlock.
The Republican Party’s losses in the House and Senate, he said, could be blamed on Trump’s war on Iran and America’s relationship to Israel.
2026-11-04 · assertive framing · Warmongers Blame War For Election Loss
In some ways, the outcome of Tennessee’s ninth district congressional election was determined in May, when Republican Gov. Bill Lee and the Tennessee legislature redrew the state’s legislative maps—carving Tennessee’s sole district in which white voters were not a majority into three new ones designed to lean Republican, following an April Supreme Court ruling that gutted the federal Voting Rights Act.
But the day before the election, most Mainers still believed Collins would win, according to the Bangor Daily News.
The hard-fought measure—which would have amended the state constitution to ban almost all abortions as well as gender-affirming care for minors—lost with only 44 percent of the vote.
The hard-fought measure—which would have amended the state constitution to ban almost all abortions as well as gender-affirming care for minors—lost with only 44 percent of the vote.
On the morning of Election Day, Donald Trump went on Fox & Friends to deliver a surprise announcement: The United States, he said, would be cutting off $4 billion in aid to Israel at the end of the year.
2026-11-03 · assertive framing · Trump’s Big Announcement on Israel Means Nothing
She demanded that El-Sayed publicly disavow it as a precondition for appearing at an event with him on Sunday; it is not clear whether the event will go forward.
The share of America’s GDP contingent on data center buildout is now somewhere between 2 percent and 4 percent; total investment in the industry through 2032 is predicted to sit in the neighborhood of $10 trillion, per a recent Brookings Institution report.
Also by Sophie Hurwitz
Warmongers Blame War For Election Loss
2026-11-04 · Mother Jones
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 55 articles by Sophie Hurwitz →

Topics

UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship White House the United States the White House

Subjects

Trump PERSON · 8× White PERSON · 6× UFC ORG · 4× Dana White PERSON · 3× the White House ORG · 2× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Truth Social ORG · 1× Ultimate Fighting Championship ORG · 1× White House ORG · 1× the United States GPE · 1×

Narrative

“I have requested that he bring with him assistants, even though some are not from our Country, of Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, and Kayla Harris,” Trump wrote, misspelling the name of UFC fighter Kayla Harrison.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-08
He also asked White to bring various muscle-bound prizefighters to the White House as assistants, presumably so that if a journalist asks a tough question, those prizefighters could then put them in a headlock.
2026-11-08 · Mother Jones
Trump Just Offered the Press Secretary Gig to UFC’s Dana White · assertive framing

Claims (16 extracted, 2 hedged)

President Donald Trump wants Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White to be the White House press secretary, he announced Saturday. asserted
he → want → ?
“The Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior, has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. asserted
Trump → offer → Social
He also asked White to bring various muscle-bound prizefighters to the White House as assistants, presumably so that if a journalist asks a tough question, those prizefighters could then put them in a headlock. uncertain
prizefighters → ask → headlock
“I have requested that he bring with him assistants, even though some are not from our Country, of Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, and Kayla Harris,” Trump wrote, misspelling the name of UFC fighter Kayla Harrison. asserted
Trump → request → Harrison
“We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left.” asserted
people → need → Left
White, who has no fighting record or governmental record, has owned UFC since 2001. asserted
who → have → 2001
If he accepts the job, he would be Trump’s seventh press secretary, replacing Katie Zacharia, who lasted just under a week on the job before being fired by Trump on October 19th. asserted
who → accept → 19th
It is unclear how White’s potential position in the federal government would impact his other roles, such as co-leader of Zuffa Boxing, a joint venture with the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority. uncertain
position → impact → Authority
In June, White’s company built a tarantula-like stage on the White House lawn to host a birthday cage fight for the President. asserted
company → build → President
(“It will never happen again,” White said afterwards.) asserted
White → happen → ?
Beyond that, “the UFC and Dana White arguably helped Trump get elected,” as Kyle Green, a sociologist at SUNY Brockport who writes on the intersection of sports and politics, told my colleague Inae Oh in June. asserted
who → help → June
“They put him in contact with Joe Rogan, who puts him in contact with all the other podcast bros. asserted
who → put → bros
That really helped Trump, especially in the last election.” asserted
That → help → election
Likewise, Green said, the UFC can attribute much of its newfound mainstream popularity to having a fan in the White House. asserted
UFC → say → House
“Dana, please take the job!” Trump wrote Saturday. asserted
Trump → take → job
It is not known as of this writing whether White has accepted the position. asserted
White → know → position
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