The White House pictures that show how the rest of Trump’s presidency will play out

The White House lawn is often the venue for friendly events such as the Easter Egg Roll and a summer picnic for members of Congress and their families.

But next month it will host a more unexpected showpiece: an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight night. Construction of the octagon-shaped caged arena that will host the event on 14 June – Donald Trump’s 80th birthday – has already begun.

Trump has confirmed that the fighters will take their walk to the octagon from the Oval Office. “We’re having a big fight. It’s never going to happen again, never happened before,” Trump said earlier this month.

For Trump, the event will be a chance to put his fingerprints even more firmly on the White House. It will also be seen as a continuation of a close friendship between Trump and UFC president Dana White, who spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention as a vocal supporter of the then-presidential candidate.

What is Trump’s attraction to the UFC?

The core viewers of the UFC are mostly males aged 18-39, and are considered to be a key demographic in Trump’s voting bloc. Influential right-wing podcaster Joe Rogan also works as an announcer for the UFC.

In the lead-up to the 2024 election, Trump appeared for a three-hour interview on Rogan’s podcast, at a time when he was shunning most traditional media.

“If there is any political rationale behind [the event], I assume that Trump thinks that it might help shore up his Maga base,” John Hart, former head of the department of political science at the Australian National University and a specialist on American government, told The i Paper.

But he added that the White House and its grounds “were not constructed to be a venue for private sporting events and such events are entirely unconnected to the functioning of government”.

It is not the first time that Trump has held a showpiece event on his birthday. Last year he held a military parade on his birthday to celebrate the army’s anniversary.

The latest event will also be part of the 250th anniversary celebrations of the US Declaration of Independence.

UFC is owned by entertainment mega conglomerate TKO, which also owns professional wrestling behemoth WWE. In 2013, Trump was inducted into the celebrity wing of the WWE’s Hall of Fame, after his appearances over the years. Trump’s Education Secretary – a department he has stated he wishes to abolish – is Linda McMahon, the former CEO of WWE and the wife of its long-time former chairman, Vince McMahon.

Trump’s other White House project

While the construction of the UFC octagon is a temporary construction, Trump has repeatedly shown how badly he wants to reimagine the presidential residence, notably by building a permanent ballroom on the White House grounds.

Many see the $400m (£294m) ballroom as a further attempt by Trump to imprint his own vision on to the landscape of Washington DC. According to Trump, the ballroom could be used to host state dinners, like the one that he hosted for King Charles and Queen Camilla last month. However, it has become a source of controversy as Trump knocked down the historic East Wing of the White House to construct it.

The latest clashes have involved the Trump administration’s attempts to have $1bn (£742m) for security enhancements inserted into an immigration enforcement funding bill.

In the wake of the recent shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner, Trump also claimed that it wouldn’t have happened if his ballroom has already been constructed.

“What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE,” he posted on Truth Social.

Famous people continue to get priority access to the Oval Office

Trump, a well-known television personality and real estate mogul before entering politics, has never hidden his love of spectacle nor of being surrounded by other famous people.

Notably, he invited billionaire Elon Musk to become par of his administration after regaining the White House. Musk became head of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), before the pair had a well-publicised falling out.

Even so, Musk was one of a group of business leaders who joined Trump on his official trip to China earlier this month.

Other famous faces involved in Trump’s White House include former daytime TV host Dr Mehmet Oz, who serves as the administrator of the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was an anchor on Fox News prior to taking the job.

A Washington Arc de Trump

Trump is also moving forward with plans to construct a 250-foot tall arch in Washington DC to celebrate America’s 250th birthday this summer.

Trump claimed last week that the US is “the only important and major city” that doesn’t have a triumphal arch. This came as the US Commission of Fine Arts, an agency that reviews design plans for government projects, voted to approve a revised design for the structure.

The revised design removed lions, which aren’t native to the US, from the design.

Trump wants the Washington arch to be based on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, with a golden winged Lady Liberty on the top, flanked by two gold eagles, and with the phrases “One Nation Under God” and “Liberty and Justice for All” inscribed in gold on either side.

In December, Trump said the new arch “will be like the one in Paris, but to be honest with you, it blows it away in every way”.

He added: “The only thing they have is history … I always say [it’s] the one thing you can’t compete with, but eventually we’ll have that history too.”

Can Trump put himself on the US currency?

Last October, the US Treasury released a draft design for a $1 coin featuring Trump’s face on the front and an image inspired by the 2024 assassination attempt on his life on the back.

An 1866 law mandates that no living person’s portrait can be used on US currency, but that refers to paper money produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Coins are minted by the US Mint, meaning it could be declared legal.

Coins aren’t the only official US document that Trump is trying to put his stamp on – he has proposed putting his face on a limited number of US passports as well. The State Department announced in April that it would release the passports featuring Trump’s likeness superimposed over the Declaration of Independence.

However, US television network CNBC is reporting that a group of senators have written to Secretary of State Marco Rubio asking him to block the move.

“The US passport has never – and should not now – feature an image of a sitting US president. We ask you to halt these plans given the anti-democratic impact this decision will have,” they wrote.