Donald Trump built a White House spectacle around beautiful men and muscle. During Pride Month

I’ve been covering Donald Trump for The Advocate since 2019, through his first term, through his off years sulking and griping at Mar-a-Lago, and now through his nightmare return to the White House over the last two years.

In that time, one thing has become unmistakably, almost comically clear: Donald Trump loves a beautiful man.

Not that he would ever say so out loud. “Women, I like. Men, no, I don’t have any interest,” Trump actually felt like he had to announce that, which he did at a Board of Peace meeting this year, apparently in response to the growing cultural conversation about his, shall we say, aesthetic sensibilities.

But here’s the thing about protesting too much.

Last month, Ashley Parker published a remarkable piece in The Atlantic titled “The King of Queens” that put language to what many of us have long observed. Trump delights in playing what he calls “the gay national anthem” to rev up a crowd. He’s obsessed with Elton John, has a Liberace-esque flair for gilded interiors, and is a self-described admirer of the physiques of other men. It’s a titillating — no contrarian pun intended — look at Trump’s gay tendencies.

A side note about Elton John. Several years ago, I spoke with Trump’s niece, Mary Trump. She told me that when she was with her grandmother, who was vehemently antigay, Elton appeared on television, and Granny Mary, Donald’s mother, directed a gay slur at him.

Related: Mary L. Trump on Growing Up Gay in an 'Anti-Everything' Family

The amount of spray tan, sculpted hair, and cosmetic concealer Trump deploys daily would make a drag queen blush, which is rich given that the Republican Party has made drag queen story hours a cornerstone of its culture war.

At UFC 327 in April, a fully made-up Trump was cageside when Brazilian fighter Paulo Costa approached him after his knockout victory. Trump told Costa, “You’re a beautiful guy. You could be a model, you look so good. Great fight.” He added, “You’re too good-looking to be a fighter.”

The exchange went viral. The New York Times described Trump’s night at the UFC as “a soothing balm of male aggression, musky sweat, and cheering supporters.” Alas, one can only imagine Trump’s wildest male fantasies. But imagine no more, since they may soon be revealed.

Related: If anyone should get a motel room, it’s Senator John Kennedy and Donald Trump

On June 14, smack dab in the middle of Pride Month, a smackdown is happening on the South Lawn of the White House, where Trump is hosting a UFC fight. Supposedly, UFC Freedom 250 is a celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.

Ok, sure it is.

The guest list of America’s most beautiful men, as Trump might put it, reportedly includes Tom Brady, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jared Leto, and Jason Statham. Aren’t you already foaming at the mouth from all this testosterone?

But it doesn’t stop there.

They’ll be joined by 1,200 military members, though not just any military members. The Pentagon issued memos specifying that ticket recipients must meet a waist-to-height ratio standard of less than 0.55, as well as all service-specific physical fitness requirements.

One defense official was more direct: commanders were instructed to select attendees who would “look good on camera.” No fatties. Only the buff and beautiful in dress uniform for the president’s birthday bash.

It also falls on Trump’s 80th birthday. I hope his frail health can handle being surrounded by such splendid male beauty. If I were him, I’d probably leave the poppers at home to avoid any sudden heart attacks. This bold and beautiful vision is also Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s, who has promised there will be no “fat troops” or “fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon.”

Indeed.

I got to thinking. Trump is so much like a spoiled and ineffectual teenager, not only with his obsessive social media use but also with his boy-crazy fixations. I don’t think photos of his White House bedroom have ever been released, but one can imagine posters of Hegseth, Costa, Elvis — Trump loves Presley — and The Village People.

And maybe Scott Bessent? Yuck, no. But one thing is certain: for Trump, it’s "Y.M.C.A." all day, every day.

So here’s what Trump has constructed for his Pride celebration, even if he’d never call it that: shirtless, grappling men; muscled troops chosen for their bodies; a guest list assembled like a gay porn casting call. All of it presided over by a man who wears more makeup than Bob the Drag Queen.

The irony is rich.

This is the same administration that has worked tirelessly to erase LGBTQ+ people from military service, scrub transgender history from federal websites, and signal in every register, policy, personnel, and rhetoric, that gay men are not welcome in this America. Because DEI.

Yet the Republican closet remains crammed with dwellers. At the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Grindr crashed from a surge in usage. A local Grindr user reported that on a normal day, he’d see maybe ten users with no profile photo. During the convention, he stopped counting at fifty blank profiles.

Conservative leaders, podcast hosts, and politicians, unnamed here but all easily Googled, have found themselves entangled in gay sex scandals with a regularity that would be comedic if it weren’t so destructive to the gay people they legislate against.

And atop all this obsession with gay men is Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House, who has spent his political career making gay men both personal and legislative targets.

Talk about thou doth protest too much.

Related: Speaker Mike Johnson’s Obsession With Gay Sex

I’m not a psychologist, and I won’t speculate about what drives any of this. But I will observe what’s plainly visible: Barack Obama welcomed Stonewall veterans to the White House. Joe Biden honored LGBTQ+ elders and heroes.

Trump, ever compelled to outdo his predecessors, may be trying to one-up them with this UFC stunt because he thinks the superficiality of looks is a cut above. Trump is celebrating America’s birthday, or, let’s say, his version of June Pride, by assembling the most elaborately homoerotic spectacle in the history of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, filled with beautiful men chosen specifically for their bodies.

No elders or oldies need apply.

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