PBS News Hour host Geoff Bennett, The Atlantic staff writer David Brooks, and MS NOW host Jonathan Capehart concluded their weekly Friday night news recap by looking ahead to Sunday’s UFC fight at the White House, which, according to them, signifies America’s “cultural decline” and is “unconscionable.”
Brooks was up first and he mourned Donald Trump is no Jack Kennedy, “Well, I first thought of, like, who are the artists John F. Kennedy brought to the White House? It was like W.H. Auden, Robert Frost, Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein. And now we have got cage fighting. Don't anybody say America's in cultural decline.”
David Brooks reacts to the upcoming UFC fight at the White House, "I first thought of, like, who are the artists John F. Kennedy brought to the White House? It was like W.H. Auden, Robert Frost, Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein. And now we have got cage fighting. Don't anybody… pic.twitter.com/b5ThMTh6ml
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) June 13, 2026
Of all the presidents to cite when arguing Trump’s White House events are a sign of cultural decline, Kennedy should be at the bottom of the list.
As it was, Bennett then turned to Capehart and wondered, “Well, look, yes, to your point, presidents have traditionally sought validation from established cultural institutions and artists. As I'm saying this, I'm looking at the—what people have called the claw on the, South Lawn. President Trump has created this alternative cultural establishment around combat sports and podcasts and influencers and social media stars. How significant is that shift? And what does it suggest?”
If Brooks wanted to praise the president who had an affair with a woman less than half his age, Capehart wanted to praise the one who did a White House interview with a YouTuber who ate cereal out of a bathtub, “Well, it's a significant shift because it's the president of the United States who's anointing it. Whenever a president invites someone from the culture into the White House, it's giving the imprimatur of the president. President Obama brought in Lin-Manuel to do what then became Hamilton.”
Moving on to Trump, Capehart added, “But this, a cage fight on the South Lawn of the White House, the people's house, that also has corporate sponsorship that you can see inside the ring, this—talk about degrading the culture. This is degrading the White House, degrading the people's house. And it's just unconscionable that this has happened.”
Bennett and then Brooks then appeared to become self-aware, with the former wondering, “Part of me thinks, though, that there were people who said that about Obama when he had, you know, rappers in the East Room, right? I mean, it's just—are we just in a different time, a different—”
Brooks conceded, “He wants us to be talking this way because he's saying, 'Look, you get looked down upon by people. I believe in cage fighting just like you.'”
Whatever one thinks of holding a UFC fight at the White House, it is impossible to argue that combat sports at the White House are unprecedented or to credibly claim it represents a unique degradation of “the people’s house.”
Here is a transcript for the June 12 show:
PBS News Hour
6/12/2026
7:41 AM ET
GEOFF BENNETT: But what do you make of this?
DAVID BROOKS: Well, I first thought of, like, who are the artists John F. Kennedy brought to the White House? It was like W.H. Auden, Robert Frost, Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein. And now we have got cage fighting. Don't anybody say America's in cultural decline. So I just—go ahead.
BENNETT: Well, look, yes, to your point, presidents have traditionally sought validation from established cultural institutions and artists. As I'm saying this, I'm looking at the—what people have called the claw on the, South Lawn.
President Trump has created this alternative cultural establishment around combat sports and podcasts and influencers and social media stars. How significant is that shift? And what does it suggest?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, it's a significant shift because it's the president of the United States who's anointing it. Whenever a president invites someone from the culture into the White House, it's giving the imprimatur of the president. Excuse me. President Obama brought in Lin-Manuel to do what then became Hamilton. So there—you're talking about Auden. And now you got Lin—I cannot remember his name.
BROOKS: Lin-Manuel Miranda, yes.
CAPEHART: Miranda, because I'm so close to calling him Noriega. And that is— I know that is not right.
But this, a cage fight on the South Lawn of the White House, the people's house, that also has corporate sponsorship that you can see inside the ring, this—talk about degrading the culture.
This is degrading the White House, degrading the people's house. And it's just unconscionable that this has happened.
BENNETT: Part of me thinks, though, that there were people who said that about Obama when he had, you know, rappers in the East Room, right? I mean, it's just—are we just in a different time, a different—
BROOKS: He wants us to be talking this way, because he's saying, “Look, you get looked down upon by people. I believe in cage fighting just like you.”
