President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday festivities are increasingly taking on the feel of a backwoods county fair — with motocross riders now set to perform stunts outside the White House this weekend.
“Nitro Circus” star Travis Pastrana and at least three other daredevils will show off their skills on Saturday, one day before the UFC’s unprecedented “America 250” cage fights on the South Lawn, The Hill reported Friday.
UFC CEO and Trump ally Dana White said Pestrana pitched the previously unimaginable idea at a recent “Power Slap” fighting event, according to Fox News.
“You grabbed me at Power Slap and said, ‘I want to do a backflip on the South Lawn of the White House,'” White told Pastrana during a Tuesday video conference. “And I said, ‘Interesting. All right, let me see what I can do.'”
Pestrana has since said on social media that fellow bikers Ricky Carmichael and Brian Deegan will make death-defying motorcycle jumps with him, according to The Hill.
open image in galleryPestrana later said that a fourth, unidentified biker will join them, according to The Hill.
The White House confirmed to The Independent that there will be motocross events on the South Lawn on Saturday and that they would be broadcast to the UFC “Fan Fest” at the nearby park known as the Ellipse.
The UFC has said it’s spending at least $60 million to stage Sunday’s mixed martial arts matches in an octagon-shaped cage on the South Lawn under a canopy held up by massive, lighted arches called “The Claw.”
The outdoor arena is festooned with advertising for products including Bud Light beer, the Polymarket online betting platform and Monster Energy drinks, including its “Mango Loco” flavor.
About 4,300 people are expected to watch the mixed-martial arts matches in person, with as many as 120,000 taking in the spectacle during a remote watch party in a nearby park called the Ellipse.
Southern rockers the Zac Brown Band are scheduled to play for the “Fan Fest” crowd on Saturday night and also perform the national anthem before Sunday’s fights.
open image in galleryAnd a news conference featuring White and the fighters who will square off on Trump’s birthday is set for Friday night at the Lincoln Memorial, where the president recently had the Reflecting Pool’s basin covered in “American Flag Blue” sealant.
Last week, the Public Integrity Project, a government watchdog group, sued the National Park Service on behalf of a Vietnam War veteran and a civic activist in an attempt to block the event.
The Public Integrity Project called it a “corrupt scheme to hand the White House South Lawn and Lincoln Memorial to a private, for-profit sports promoter” and said Trump bought up to $50,000 in shares of UFC’s parent company, TKO Holdings Group, during the spring.
But a judge on Friday ruled against the plaintiffs, saying they’d failed to show a “substantial likelihood” that they had legal standing to challenge the government and that they would suffer “irreparable harm” if the fights went forward.
In a court filing, the park service had acknowledged that seven government agencies — including the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Aviation Administration — have “allocated significant resources and manpower” to the event, according to The Associated Press.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio also signed a cooperation agreement with the UFC to promote youth teamwork and leadership around the world, AP said.
“We are so polarized,” Rubio said. “There are only a handful of things that bring people together in one place at one time, united by their interest in one thing. We need more of those.”