Jake Paul grabbed a microphone at a Donald Trump rally in Ohio, aimed his material at protesters and the “woke socialist movement,” and walked straight into a social media buzzsaw. The Mirror US reported that the joke fell flat. EssentiallySports reported that fans online were roasting the speech for sounding rehearsed, which might be the worst review a guy can get when the act depends on looking like he’s freestyling.
Trump didn’t exactly vouch for the script either. After the appearance, he said of Paul, “I didn’t know what the hell he was going to say,” according to reports picked up by Lente Desportiva and several Australian outlets, including The Australian and the Herald Sun.
That line is where things get funny, because the internet had already decided the opposite. Footage of Trump talking to Paul backstage before the speech got the lip-reader treatment, with people combing through the clip to guess at whatever instructions were being handed down. So you had Trump publicly playing it as a surprise, and a crowd of amateur forensic analysts treating it like a halftime adjustment from a head coach.
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The Poke ran with a different angle, writing that Paul’s shot at “woke socialists” read as such a sharp description of the man standing behind him that it was uncanny. And Yahoo reported that fans tagged Paul as a hypocrite over a “Twitter Fingers” jab he threw at the rally. One reaction summed up the mood: “Irony is thick.”
The Trump connection didn’t end in Ohio. On October 12, Most Valuable Promotions, the company Paul co-founded, posted on X that Paul and Trump were spotted boarding Air Force One together.
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Meanwhile, back in the fight business
The rally overshadowed a pretty normal Jake Paul weekend otherwise. On October 11, MVP posted that Paul praised the heart shown by Lucas Bahdi and Floyd Schofield after the two went to war, and that he wants to see the rematch down the line. That’s the promoter hat, and honestly it’s the one he wears best.
There was also a viral clip from HappyPunch of Paul hitting a heavy bag with a massive snake wrapped around it. Spinnin Backfist replied with the only reasonable question, “Why though?” Paulo Costa jumped in too, writing on X that he sparred with Logan Paul five years ago and that it wasn’t a real fight, then asking his followers whether Jake is better than his brother. Costa fishing for a payday in the replies is a sport unto itself at this point.
Paul’s name is also floating around the UFC’s fighter pay fight. In an MMA Fighting mailbag on Sean Strickland’s recent shots at the promotion, the writer argued the UFC has zero interest in letting Strickland go box or fight Jake Paul. None of the sources this week laid out Paul’s next opponent or a date for his return.
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Quick take
I love a villain, and Jake Paul has been one of the best villains in combat sports because his heat comes from him doing whatever he wants and daring you to stop him. A political rally bit that people think was written by committee kills that whole vibe. The snake clip, the Costa bait, the Air Force One photo op, fine, that’s the circus and the circus sells. But if fans are breaking out lip readers to figure out who wrote your punchlines, you’re the opening act. Paul should go back to being the headliner, and the quickest way there is a fight announcement with an actual name and an actual date attached.
