"How the Reflecting Pool Turned Green.... Bulky 'nanobubbler' machines were carted off ahead of a promotional event for President Trump’s Ultimate Fighting Championship birthday party."

The NYT reports.

The decision to remove the water-treatment systems, which has not previously been reported, was one of several missteps that have plagued Mr. Trump’s $16.4 million renovation of the Reflecting Pool. There have been no-bid contracts, peeling strips of waterproof coating in Mr. Trump’s handpicked shade of “American flag blue,” and even a dead duck floating in the water (though it is not clear if the renovation had anything to do with the duck’s demise). In recent days, the water has become clear again, reflecting the sky and the surrounding monuments. The temporary nanobubblers have been replaced with more discreet, permanent purification systems. Still, the Park Service plans to drain the pool again soon to fix the peeling coating....

"Would I rather watch the cast of 'Hamilton' at the White House than men pummeling each other into bloody pulps?"

"You bet. But there’s a chasmic difference between brilliant Broadway performers and hyped-up men kicking and punching for spectacle. I can’t bear to think what the rest of the world sees when it watches the most powerful country on Earth, the heart of democracy, descend from the hilltop into the primal muck where man-as-beast triumphs over the sublime. (That’s me being polite.)"

Writes Kathleen Parker, in "Trump’s big, beautiful brawl was the worst birthday present ever/A $60 million South Lawn cage match cheapened the People’s House" (WaPo).

"So I decided to ask them: Can you tell me what, exactly, you like about ultimate fighting?..."

"I couldn’t get my 18-year-old to talk about it, but my 15-year-old — a thoughtful kid who last week told me, 'U.F.C. literally takes up 99 percent of my brain space' — was happy to oblige. He explained in excruciating detail the various weight classes and fighting techniques.... 'I know it’s marketing, I really do, but their characters are so entertaining and their work ethic really impresses me.' Another thing he finds compelling about U.F.C., he said, is how 'real' it is. Most professional sports are 'fictional' made-up games in which people throw or kick or hit round rubber things in order to amuse themselves and a bunch of strangers. Fighting, he pointed out, is primal, 'in our blood'...."

Writes Hope Reeves, in "My Teenage Sons Love U.F.C. Here’s What We Saw at the White House Cage Match" (NYT).

"The storm comes and splits at the White House and goes around the White House and the Ellipse. The President believes that… it was divine intervention."

Dana White on the storm going around UFC Freedom 250: “The storm comes and splits at the White House and goes around the White House and the Ellipse. The President believes that… it was divine intervention.” pic.twitter.com/uWFETwVL9H

— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) June 17, 2026

Those who like to call out Trump for his narcissism got a big disappointment last night as the supposed birthday party was not a birthday party at all.

The event was called UFC Freedom 250, and, true to that name, it turned out to be about the UFC and the United States of America.

3 days before his birthday, Trump had said — quoted at USA Today — "You don't have to wish me happy birthday because I'm not happy about that birthday that I'm having. That's a number that I never thought really too much about. It's not a number I like, but I'm here, nevertheless."

And at that huge event on the White House lawn on the evening of his birthday, last night, I don't think there was even a passing mention of his birthday.

All I am seeing is a spontaneous welling-up of the song "Happy Birthday" in the crowd:

If that was planned, it was planned to seem unplanned. It's entirely unconnected to anything happening in the Octagon.

Trump walked out of the White House with some fanfare, but he was side-by-side with Dana White, and that thwarted the hater's interpretation that Trump expected it to be all about him.

He took his seat ringside and mostly just sat there smiling. At the end, he entered the Octagon, but not to be celebrated. He was congratulating the fighters and giving them a photo-op to celebrate themselves.