A WARRIOR’S TALE
UFC fighters are core MAGAs. I suppose if you make a living hitting people, Trump is an attractive choice. But like his ex-wives and sub-contractors, some of these made-for-TV brawlers have come to realize that Trump’s rhetoric has the solidity of pure wind. His promises seduced them. But they woke up to his bitter reality.
Bryce Mitchell is one of these newly sober conquests. He was once all-in on the 2024 President-elect. In a Dec 7, 2024, post-fight interview, he declared: “I love Donald Trump.” This encomium was in response to a question asking the triumphant, sweaty, and topless Bryce how he felt about Trump’s cabinet choices. (Note: This seems an odd inquiry in the context. But I am no expert on post-fight interviews.)
Mitchell did admit his man had flaws by adding:
“And you know he is not perfect. And there’s going to be mistakes that he makes. And I don’t know about every single cabinet pick.”
How refreshingly honest. We live in a time when to say you don’t know something is considered un-American. However, Bryce did reveal he thought the Surgeon General nominee [Denise Hinton] was unqualified. His rationale was that she was “one of those vaccine people” — and he is not in favor of that tribe. In his words:
“If you’re a doctor and you’re pushing vaccines on children, I think it’s awful. I think vaccines give them ADHD. I think it give them autism. I don’t believe in vaccines; I don’t think they are effective at all.
But when it comes to Donald Trump, I still trust him. Even if he has a couple of bad picks, that’s not what I care about. I care about that man. And I trust his intentions.
It turns out Mitchell is a man of faith. He sees the world in Biblical terms. He uses Christian language to contrast his feelings about the outgoing and incoming administrations.
“These people in office right now are serving Satan. And Donald Trump, he’s prepared to do the Lord’s work. And that’s why I love Donald Trump. Even if he makes mistakes, I still support Donald Trump. And he don’t make many mistakes. And when he does, he’ll figure it out. And he’ll fix it. And I trust him.”
He then reiterates that his support for his guy is to the bone. Bryce is in love. And like an adolescent boy taking his first steps in romance, his declared commitment to the object of his adoration is existential.
“He took a bullet for us. And if the day comes, I will take a bullet for that man. I love that man with all my heart. And I would die fighting for a battle for that man.”
A reporter then asked Mitchell about Elon Musk and his “involvement with DOGE” (I had no idea that post-UFC-fight interviews were so far-ranging). Mitchell’s response impressed me with its perspicacity. He answered:
“Time will always reveal someone’s true character. And if you put that man in a position of power, his true character will be revealed. He has all the money in this country. And he wastes it on fucking rockets, man.
Think about it, dude. He could actually help people with that money, but he don’t give a shit about you [Bryce points at the reporter].”
Mitchell reiterates that Musk wastes all his money on rockets and “cars that suck,” before adding that once Musk is under the spotlight, his character will be revealed. He then executes the coup de grâce:
“It will be seen that he is a rat bastard.”
FROM THE MESSIAH TO THE BEAST
That was then. Time has passed. Trump can no longer rely solely on his rhetoric. He has done things — and can be judged by his actions. Mitchell has again weighed his man in the balance — but this time, Bryce has found Trump wanting.
Last Friday, Mitchell took to Instagram to announce that he’s “not with Donald Trump no more,” and “I do not like the guy at all.” He explains:
“The first thing for me was he didn’t release the Epstein files. They’re even acting like they didn’t exist. And, of course, they’re sending Israel and Ukraine all of our tax dollars just like the numbnuts before him did. Putting America last, and now he’s blaming the beef farmers for the price of beef.
Hey, I’m not biased, man. He talked a good game; he tricked me. I was fooled. I admit it.”
Well played, Mr. Mitchell. None of us is immune to error. But it takes a mensch to admit he was wrong. Too often, fragile egos cause people to cling to positions they know are wrong. Courage is looking the world in the eye and saying, ‘I screwed up.’
As a fundamentalist Christian, Mitchell views the world through scriptural categorization. He and I diverge in our analysis. However, I want to live in a free America. So, I support his right to see things as he prefers to see them. And this is how he sees them:
“Now, let me tell you how bad I think this is, though. This is really this bad, guys. I want y’all, if you’re a Christian, I want you to get into Revelation 13:3, and I want you to read that verse — yeah, about the Antichrist, about the one who was fatally wounded in the head; then he was miraculously healed and the whole world marveled at him and said, “No man can make war with him.” Yeah, I do think that Donald Trump is that beast of Revelation 13:3. Yeah, go read it. Go read it!”
I did as he commanded. And read Revelation 13:3. It states: “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”
If you are a bible literalist, then the case is open and shut. Trump’s bullet-nicked ear was not a sign of Divine favor. Indeed not. The wound’s quick and scarless healing is proof positive that the President is Satan’s compadre.
Unfortunately, for all his newfound clarity on Trump, Mitchell is still a godawful thinker and profound bigot.
A BROKEN CLOCK
We must file Mitchell’s cold reassessment of Trump under “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.” Bryce may now be clear-eyed on Trump, but he is still a man lost to conspiracies. Some of his beliefs are unscientific, others egregiously bigoted. All of them are the hallmarks of a man who has forgone the use of reason.
He believes: (for links, CLICK HERE)
The US Government created COVID in a lab and deliberately released it.
The US government stages mass shootings to advance a gun confiscation agenda.
The Federal Reserve is a “corrupt institution” manipulating the value of the US dollar.
In addition
He is also a flat earther who believes gravity is a hoax.
He has said he would homeschool his son because he did not want him to be a Communist, to worship Satan, or to be gay. (Bryce is virulently homophobic.)
He has praised Adolf Hitler and denied the holocaust. He stated, “I honestly think that Hitler was a good guy based upon my own research, not my public education indoctrination,” and further claimed, “When you realize there’s no possible way they could’ve burned and cremated six million bodies, you’re gonna realize the Holocaust ain’t real.”
Additionally, Mitchell suggested that “greedy Jews” were “destroying his country and turning them all into gays” and offered early gender-affirming surgeries in Germany as evidence of societal decline.
Oh well. Let’s bank his antipathy to Trump and hope that Mitchell takes more than a few steps on the road from dumbass bigotry to enlightenment. The odds seem long. But maybe he’ll have a Pauline epiphany.