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What? WME-IMG forms mega Hollywood PAC against Trump & now gives him a motive to sign Ali Act

By Zach Arnold | February 8, 2017

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Hollywood is melting down over President Donald J. Trump and WME-IMG, the new owners of UFC, are reportedly creating a mega Hollywood PAC to pump huge amounts of cash to go after the Trump agenda.

This is potentially a game-changing gift for the forces who are nudging Congress into amending the Ali Act to cover Mixed Martial Arts.

Ari Emanuel and Dana White triangulated the 2016 American political scene beautifully. They played both sides of the coin and ended up helping one of UFC’s biggest supporters become President. The loyalty Dana White showed to Donald Trump is something that Trump took very seriously. It gave Dana White a direct line to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It gave Ari Emanuel, Trump’s former TV agent, a direct path to talk to the President. If they wanted Trump to veto signing an amendment to the Ali Act, they had clout to make the request and force Congress to override a Presidential veto.

With momentum building in Congress to amend the Ali Act, I switched my position from arguing that there was no chance of the Ali Act getting amended to a position where I could see a possible path of Congress amending the Ali Act, Trump vetoing, and Congress overring the veto. The chances were still slim, but growing.

Now this logic could potentially be turned upside down with WME-IMG and Hollywood going after Trump with tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in the form of a Political Action Committee. WME-IMG just cracked the door open for Trump signing an amendment to the Ali Act and gave him a motive — revenge.

The move by Ari Emanuel and WME-IMG to turn on a dime against Trump suddenly reverses course from the political strategy new ownership had in cementing UFC’s political security. Forming a mega Hollywood PAC to go after Trump and work against the implementation of his agenda is going to piss him off. It has the potential of reversing all the carefully crafted work WME-IMG engaged in over the last 12 months to make Trump a top ally.

The problem for WME-IMG? Their Hollywood clients are so hot at Trump that WME-IMG is getting backed into a corner to abandon all the political work they did over the last six months in protecting UFC. If you’re in the camp working hard to amend the Ali Act to cover MMA, these new political developments could be just what the doctor ordered to bring much needed change.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

7 Responses to “What? WME-IMG forms mega Hollywood PAC against Trump & now gives him a motive to sign Ali Act”

  1. dave says:

    Since the UFC backed Trump in the election, via Dana speaking for him at the convention they sort of got boxed in with his extremist first 3 weeks. Now that the UFC is the new face of WME they must be hearing from their Hollywood elite clients that they don’t want to be connected to Trump. WME certainly cannot afford to lose those clients. They just spent 4 billion so if anything they need to recruit more clients which would be hard in California being seen as “friend of Trump”.

  2. Choco says:

    What about all that big money backing Ariel? Where they stand?

  3. Diaz's packed bowl says:

    You’re wrong about this one because…
    #1 This “pac” simply represents controlled opposition. In short, this means instead of actual people with actual gripes against “government” like… “why is my taxpayer money being spent to ravage other countries and bus the survivors to the USA?” And why is taxpayer money still, after 15 years of the “new american century”, being used to destroy other countries buildings and rebuilding them with huge army bases, while during that same span of time buildings dams bridges etc… are falling apart from neglect in America?”
    Instead, they can promote”womens rights” while generating interest in invading another resource rich country because they treat their women poorly. While here in chicago, another Emanuel run show, the murder rate is as bad or worse than many of the third world countries we claim to be helping.

    With the help of hollywood Trump can easily make up for his misogynistic ways by liberating some women from boko harem while securing the oil rights from that country for his banker bosses.

    #2 There’s no such thing as bad publicity. As long as its used to sell your product or agenda.

    • Megatherium says:

      Those are some very good questions Nick. Questions that we won’t be getting answers to…ever.

      • Diaz's packed bowl says:

        I can answer them, but it takes over 5 minutes generally 10 for a real considered answer, and nobody has that kind of time, or the inclination to think about anything outside of their mental myopia.

  4. Rob Maysey says:

    #AliAct2MMA. It’s coming.

    #fight4fighters.

    #MMAFA.

    #uniteFightchange

  5. 45 Huddle says:

    After that press conference yesterday, the Ali act is the least of Trump’s worries.

    What a fool.

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