Trump’s midterm closing message keeps featuring aging boxers

Ahead of the midterms, Donald Trump has put retired boxers on stage at his rallies, repeating a tactic from his 2024 campaign. MS NOW opinion blogger Ja'han Jones argues the lineup is meant to project toughness at a time when Trump's standing with male voters appears to be slipping.

Mike Tyson, a convicted rapist, praised the president at an upstate New York event, and Trump responded by describing the former champion as a "very dangerous person." Floyd Mayweather Jr., who served time for domestic violence, spoke up for Trump at an Arizona rally. This week in South Carolina, Evander Holyfield joined Trump, who mentioned the boxer while applauding a supporter who had hit a heckler.

Jones contends the choice of older Black athletes carries a racial dimension, and says the men are being used as distractions from unmet promises. Women, Jones notes, have made up nearly all net job growth since Trump returned to office, despite Trump's pledge to restore traditionally masculine work. Jones concludes the endorsements are favors collected by a politician whose clout among a core group is fading.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →