Trump was watching UFC fight in Miami while Iran talks collapsed

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MIAMI – On the evening of April 11, as Vice-President J.D. Vance took the podium in Pakistan and said no deal had been reached to end the war in Iran, US President Donald Trump was in Miami watching a mixed martial arts fight.

Mr Trump spent several hours orbited by a few of his children; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; some Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) officials; US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor; recording artist Vanilla Ice; Mr Dan Bongino, former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and manosphere shepherd Joe Rogan.

He was surrounded by people, but Mr Trump was somehow an isolated figure.

People mostly circulated around him, checking in with updates and then leaving again.

For the most part, Mr Trump sat and impassively watched blood and saliva sprayed out from the fighters beating each other silly in front of him.

It was unclear whether the President knew that negotiations had failed by the time he entered the arena for the UFC match to a Kid Rock song and thunderous applause.

He was not tapping away on his phone – he left that to Mr Rubio, who at one point leaned over to show the President his screen – and he did not betray disappointment or anger.

He offered tight smiles for the cameras instead, and a thumbs-up for the winners.

In fact, on his way to Florida, Mr Trump had told reporters that it did not matter to him if a deal with Iran was reached or not.

“We win, regardless,” he said. “We’ve defeated them militarily.” It sounded a lot like everything he had said before negotiations began.

The political reality facing Mr Trump is grim, just as the economic reality facing Americans appears to be getting worse.

Inflation is rising.

Gas prices are eating into American pay cheques, a direct result of a war Mr Trump ordered. The President has responded to the pressure by attacking his critics and threatening his adversaries.

There was a widespread outcry from Democrats and some of his long-time supporters over his threat to wipe out the entire civilisation of Iran.

Democrats in Congress, alarmed by Mr Trump’s behaviour, want to see him impeached and they are questioning his mental fitness for office. They want to see his physician give Mr Trump a complete cognitive exam, and then they want to interview the physician.

All of that awaits Mr Trump back in Washington.

But on the night of April 11, in his adopted home state, he spent his time in an arena where people treat him like one of the prizefighters when he walks into the room.

After a week spent largely out of sight but lashing out at his enemies on social media, Mr Trump’s resurfacing at a match seemed designed to provide him with a soothing balm of male aggression, musky sweat and cheering supporters – not unlike one of his political rallies, just with shirtless fighters.

Round after round, fight after fight, Mr Trump watched as pairs of competitors sparred in a cage covered in ads for Monster energy drinks, assorted crypto and betting sites, and Bud Light beer.

The floor was stained with splotches of dried blood from the first match of the evening, when a fighter took a hard hit to the forehead.

At one point, the Mortal Kombat theme song played as Mr Rubio and the President leaned in to speak to each other.

At another, the arena crowd watched an advertisement for a UFC fight scheduled at the White House this summer. “History is made by revolutionary ideas” was one tagline from the commercial, which featured several exterior shots of the White House.

Mr Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, and younger daughter, Tiffany, kept close throughout the evening, as did Mr Donald Trump Jr, the President’s eldest son, and his fiancee Bettina Anderson.

The Trumps stood and posed for photos with supporters who approached them, waved their fists and, at times, threw back their heads in laughter.

One family member missing was Ms Ivanka Trump’s husband, Mr Jared Kushner, who was in Pakistan with Mr Vance and Mr Trump’s peace envoy, Mr Steve Witkoff.

At the moment Mr Vance began briefing the news media in Pakistan, Mr Trump was standing still at the side of the cage with his hands at his sides as a winning fighter cheered.

He and Mr Rubio were looking up towards a large screen and watching a video montage of the fighter’s greatest hits as Mr Vance said “the bad news is that we have not reached an agreement”.

In Pakistan, Mr Vance did not say if the Strait of Hormuz would be open for oil traffic to pass through. White House officials did not answer questions about whether a shaky ceasefire with Tehran would hold. They all deferred to Mr Trump to decide what was next.

As the night grew late on April 11 and the war once again seemed poised to spin out of Mr Trump’s control, the Vice-President departed Pakistan without an agreement. The President stayed seated in Miami, his eyes trained on the men punching and kicking each other in a bloodstained cage. NYTIMES