President Trump on Wednesday congratulated Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) for his win over Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in the state’s GOP Senate primary runoff. Despite the loss, Trump added that Cornyn “will remain my friend for a long time to come.” Paxton brought in 63.8 percent of the vote over the incumbent’s 36.2…

Pam Bondi is reportedly dealing with cancer — after getting fired as U.S. Attorney General by President Donald Trump. Axios reports that Bondi was diagnosed with thyroid cancer just after Trump showed her to the door at the Justice Department in…

Senate Republicans’ campaign arm quietly deleted a number of posts attacking Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) after he won the Texas Senate runoff on Tuesday against Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).  The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which had backed Cornyn in the Senate GOP primary runoff, deleted a statement from July 2025 after Paxton’s estranged wife, Angela Paxton, said she had filed for…

President Trump will host the 12th Cabinet meeting of his second term on Wednesday. It’s the second such meeting since the Iran war began, and a deal to end that conflict is in limbo. Texas primary runoff elections are in the rearview mirror, along with candidates Sen. John Cornyn (R), Rep. Al Green (D) and…

In mid-April, roughly six weeks into the war with Iran, the White House deployed JD Vance and the administration’s diplomatic “A team” to Pakistan for direct negotiations with officials from Tehran. The talks proved pointless, and the vice president returned home empty-handed.

A day later, Donald Trump spoke with reporters outside the Oval Office and talked at some length about the issue foremost on his mind. “I’ve been involved in a lot of big events,” the president said. “I have never had an event that has had more interest than the UFC fight we have right at the front door.”

Pointing to the White House South Lawn, the Republican added, “Right there, they’re going to start building a 4,500-seat arena, and then in the back, at the Ellipse, we’re going to have 100,000, maybe 50,000 to 100,000 people, I guess. They’re building tremendous stages, and we’re going to have massive screens of the fight. It’s a very popular sport.”

It was one thing to hear Trump talk about the temporary construction project; it’s something else to see the endeavor actually take shape. Roughly six weeks after the president’s weird monologue about the UFC venue, The Associated Press reported:

Yet another White House construction project is underway, though this one is meant to be only temporary.

Crews are erecting an octagon-shaped cage on the South Lawn that will host next month’s UFC bout, helping mark the nation’s 250th anniversary — and President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.

Tuesday, for the first time, the public could see elements of the project, including arcs that looked like pieces of an amusement park ride that hovered over the White House’s south facade.

New photos show construction of a White House UFC arena for Trump’s birthday

— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) 2026-05-26T14:54:03.788582948Z

The result was a truly bizarre visual: On the east side of the White House complex, there’s a giant construction project underway, with Trump desperate to build a ballroom vanity project where the East Wing once stood. On the west side of the White House complex, there’s a patio redesigned to resemble outdoor space at Mar-a-Lago where the Rose Garden used to be.

And in between, there’s the construction of a giant octagon, where professional fighters will entertain the president on his 80th birthday.

In 1998, the late David Broder criticized Bill Clinton in a memorable way. “He came in here and he trashed the place — and it’s not his place,” the longtime Washington Post columnist said of the Democratic president.

Broder, of course, was being metaphorical about Clinton and his impact at the White House. A generation later, the incumbent Republican president is actually trashing the place.

As for tickets for the upcoming event, NBC News reported earlier this month that the tickets are technically free and the UFC is footing the bill for the event. That said, sponsorship packages that include ringside seats have been selling for $1 million or more, and no one seems to know where the sponsorship money is going.

While those questions linger, the list of presidential distractions continues to grow. The construction of the UFC venue, which will come down after Trump’s birthday, coincides with the Republican’s focus on his ballroom vanity project, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the installation of a White House helipad and the construction of a massive “triumphal arch” near Arlington National Cemetery.

Trump has also been fixated on a desire to turn the Eisenhower Executive Office Building into a giant white blob, his stated interest in renovating the White House Treaty Room, his specific marble and paint preferences for the Kennedy Center, his plans for a “statue garden,” his sudden interest in fountains around the nation’s capital and a dozen or so additional renovation projects he’s prioritized in and around the White House complex.

This probably isn’t what many Trump voters had in mind when he supported his 2024 candidacy, but it’s what they’re getting anyway.

The post UFC structure takes shape at the White House, adding to Trump’s list of distractions appeared first on MS NOW.

EXCLUSIVE: Pray For Me: Pope Francis’ Story, a feature documentary about the former Pope, developed in collaboration with the Vatican Television Center, has locked sales deals in Spain and Portugal out of the Cannes Market.  NOS Lusomundo has acquired rights for Portugal, while A Contracorriente Films has secured Spain.  The film is directed by Facundo […]

“As soon as somebody’s a d***, I’m going. You clear?” Russell said at one point in the video.

---

View Entire Post ›

Travis Kelce has been making huge headlines with his upcoming wedding to Taylor Swift … but the NFL star is now making an even bigger splash with his wallet, that is … investing his own money in the Cleveland Guardians, according to a new…

Nancy Davis’ foundation, Race to Erase MS, has been leading the charge to find a cure for multiple sclerosis for 35 years.

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Trump-era restrictions that prevent faculty at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (USMA) from speaking to external groups without permission. U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel agreed with a longtime law professor that the policy likely violates civilian professors’ free speech rights under the First Amendment. “And even affording Defendants due deference in the realm of military affairs, their stated…

The signs are clear: The oldest dictatorship in the Americas is about to fall. 

“His mix of humility and strength, his willingness to step aside while also being at hand for help, is rare in leadership,” Wintour recalls of Donald Newhouse, the longtime head of Advance Publications’ newspaper division, who died on Tuesday. “Donald imbued Advance with spirit, ambition, trust, and real care for people. He made it an exciting place to be.”