On Thursday’s Morning Joe, amid a discussion of MS NOW analyst Eddie Glaude’s new book on “how race shadows the nation’s anniversaries,” Rev. and PoliticsNation host Al Sharpton picked up on a Glaude point on the UFC Fight Night at the White House as part of a “hyper masculine” story of the anniversary and bizarrely equated the bouts to “fights for the slave masters.”
The segment focused on the country’s 250th birthday, but the panel seemed skeptical of the Trump Administration’s frame of celebrating the story of America.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski asked Glaude about how Americans should see in the country’s past and present and how to “celebrate the Nation's 250th, especially given the moment that we're in?”
Glaude focused on “the vast diversity of the country,” and continued, “They're going to tell a story of America where people like me, people like Rev., others, people like you. We play minor bit parts.”
He called the administration’s framing of the anniversary a “hyper-masculine story, with the UFC fight on the White House grounds and all of this stuff,” before he said, “It's going to be a romance, a storybook story.”
On Thursday's Morning Joe, Rev. Al Sharpton compared the upcoming UFC Fight Night at the White House to "fights for the slave masters." pic.twitter.com/PsJxnM7j6l
— Nick (@nspin310) May 28, 2026
Glaude continued and implied “they,” the administration, believe America is a “white republic”:
You know, America is America because, you know, we are on its tongue, our taste, our food is in the taste of the place, right? We make America swing. These folk want to say that's not true because they believe that fundamentally it's a white republic.
Occasional co-host Willie Geist then turned to Sharpton and asked, how Americans should celebrate the 250 years “which is a story full of horrors and racism and all those things, but also of triumph over some of those things.”
Sharpton responded with a hope to “dramatically tell the story” and “celebrate the people that corrected the insidious behavior of some of the Founding Fathers, who extolled the right virtues but didn’t practice them for all people and all genders.”
After Sharpton mentioned the redistricting battle, he talked about the UFC fight at the White House and compared it to slavery:
UFC and all that, because they're trying to go back to that when, you know, they watch people have these fights for the slave masters and they'd be entertained by that. They're literally going back to that. Let's not forget—
Brzezinski tried to save Sharpton and shift his thought to ICE with a comment of “look at these ICE raids,” which Sharpton briefly acknowledged before he returned to accuse Trump of wanting to bring back slavery alike to the times of former President Andrew Jackson:
That's the kind of country he wants us to go back to, Andrew Jackson. And we must resist that with all we have.
Even with Mika’s attempt to steer Sharpton elsewhere, he continued to, seemingly, accuse Trump of supporting slavery. That certainly was an interesting editorial choice for a morning wake-up show in a discussion of the U.S.’s anniversary milestone.
The transcript is below. Click "expand":
MS NOW’s Morning Joe
May 28, 2026
7:45:25 AM Eastern
(...)
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: So, what would you hope people would look at as we celebrate the Nation's 250th, especially given the moment that we're in?
EDDIE GLAUDE: Well, the vast diversity of the country. I think we need to show our behinds on July 4th. They're going to tell a story of America where people like me, people like Rev., others, people like you. We play minor bit parts.
It's going to be a hyper-masculine story, with the UFC fight on the White House grounds and all of this stuff. It's going to be a romance, a storybook story.
I think we have to really reveal and demonstrate how the vast diversity of this country gives it its power, right? You know, America is America because, you know, we are on its tongue, our taste, our food is in the taste of the place, right? We make America swing. These folk want to say that's not true because they believe that fundamentally it's a white republic.
WILLIE GIEST: And, Rev., in some ways, the president and a lot of people lately in this country want to frame the truthful telling of the history of America as woke, or talking about even modern inequities as some woke identity politics. And they've gone so far as to go into museums and take out pieces of the truth and take out pieces of the story that don't fit the one that they want to tell right now.
So, where does the pushback come from the American people? How do we make sure that the truths, which is a story full of horrors and racism and all those things, but also of triumph over some of those things, over all those 250 years. That's the real story of America, hopefully. How do we make sure that full story remains out there in this era?
REV. AL SHARPTON: I think we have to dramatically tell that story and keep telling it over and over again. The fact is that 250 years ago, when they signed the Declaration of Independence, we were enslaved. Women couldn't vote, only white male landowners could. So, if we want to celebrate something, celebrate the people that corrected -
GEIST: Right.
SHARPTON: - the insidious behavior of some of the founding fathers who extolled the right virtues but didn't practice them for all people and all genders. And I think that we have to do that very loudly, very boldly, and unapologetically. I mean, we're going to Washington, the anniversary of the March on Washington ‘63, August 28th this year.
We need to bring out that, yes, we went from slavery to a president of the United States of color, but it was bloodshed. It was nights in jail. It was beatings. It was all kinds of things that got us there. Let's celebrate how we grew and the people that paid the price for it, and that are continuing to pay the price now because when we're dealing with this redistricting, Trump and others are trying to bring us back to an America that we struggle to get out of.
So there is a connection of why they're having these fights on the White House lawn, the UFO and all - the UF- whatever they call it,
PANEL: UFC.
SHARPTON: UFC and all that, because they're trying to go back to that when, you know, they watch people have these fights for the slave masters and they'd be entertained by that. They're literally going back to that. Let's not forget-
BRZEZINSKI: Look at these ICE Raids -
SHAPRTON: That’s right.
BRZEZINSKI: Playing out on America’s streets.
SHARPTON: Let's not forget one of the things that I think slips a lot of people. When Donald Trump first was elected in 2016, Mika. In 2017, when he went in the Oval Office, one of the first things he did was hang a picture of President Andrew Jackson.
Andrew Jackson was a slave owning president who nominated Judge Roger Taney to the Supreme Court. Taney became the chief justice that saw the Dred Scott decision passed. Why didn't anybody ask Trump: Andrew Jackson, I don't remember reading about him in elementary school. Why Jackson?
That's the kind of country he wants us to go back to, Andrew Jackson. And we must resist that with all we have.
(...)
