Video: The ‘Trump Dance’ Is Now the Hottest NFL and UFC Celebration

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There’s a culture change happening before our very eyes.

For a period following the 2020 election, celebrities and athletes alike avoided referencing President Donald Trump in a positive light. They may have voted for him or liked his policies, but they never said so in public.

Since Trump’s victory on November 5 and triumphant return to the presidency, a culture change of sorts has occurred. Gone are the days when Trump’s name or likeness was to be shunned in the public arena.

On the football field, it’s customary for players to celebrate a touchdown or a crucial play. Over the past two Sundays on the gridiron, some of those celebrations took a political turn when many players broke out their best “Trump dance” after scoring a touchdown.

It was so noticeable even the Associated Press ran a story yesterday on the phenomenon:

The Trump dance is becoming a trend around the NFL.

Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley and Lions defensive end Za’Darius Smith followed Nick Bosa’s lead and celebrated big plays on Sunday with dance moves inspired by President-elect Donald Trump.

Bowers had 13 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown for Las Vegas in a 34-19 loss at Miami. The rookie shook his arms and swayed his hips like Trump after a 23-yard catch-and-run TD.

“I’ve seen everyone do it,” Bowers told USA Today following the game. “I watched the UFC fight (Saturday) night and Jon Jones did it. I like watching UFC so I saw it, and thought it was cool.”

The NFL controls a lot of what players do on and off the field but they can’t explicitly stop them from celebrating a touchdown in whatever way they see fit.

To that end, the Trump dance has been born. Here’s a compilation from Sunday posted by Collin Rugg on X:

Last week, it was the San Francisco 49ers in on the action:

As Eric Daugherty notes, it’s a MAGA takeover that’s bleeding well into pop culture since praising and referencing Trump is no longer grounds for recrimination:

It’s a sea change that few saw coming but here it is. Beyond the NFL, the movement pulled into the UFC arena on Saturday.

Just look at this rock star entrance afforded to Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in deep-blue Manhattan flanked by Dana White, Kid Rock, Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and House Speaker Mike Johnson:

House Speaker Johnson was having the time of his life, no doubt, but looked a little like a fish out of water walking along with Kid Rock and Elon Musk. What a thing to watch.

Winner of UFC 309’s main heavyweight event, Jon Jones, deployed the Trump dance in the ring after his victory:

Jones went a step further, however, and presented the President-elect with his championship belt:

It’s great to see Americans celebrating again and openly excited about the country’s future. It didn’t take too long to move from kneeling against the American flag to openly celebrating a Trump victory on the field:

America is so back.

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Nate Ashworth

The Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for over a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016 that continues today.

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