WHITE-SWAP

Trump’s Press Secretary Offer Fuels Wild Mix-Up Theory

Will the real Dana White please stand up?

Donald Trump has sparked speculation that he mistakenly nominated the wrong Dana White to become his next White House press secretary.

The president, 80, shocked the world on Saturday after announcing that he wants Ultimate Fighting Championship boss Dana White as his next MAGA mouthpiece in a Truth Social post.

“Dana, please take the job!” Trump implored, pairing his public plea with an AI-generated photo of White, 57, standing behind the White House press podium.

However, there is speculation that another Dana White appeared on the president’s shortlist for the position—one whose experience is far more aligned with the famously demanding role.

Critics raised the possibility that the president’s team had actually suggested Dana W. White, a former assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, for the job.

Dana W. White previously served as the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson and worked at the Heritage Foundation, the ultraright think tank behind Trump’s Project 2025. She also has a background in conservative media, having worked as a columnist for The Wall Street Journal and a commentator on Fox News—both key assets for a job in Trump’s communications department.

“Apparently ‘Dana W. White’ who ran public affairs for Sec Def was recommended on a short list for Trump to put as Press Secretary,” independent journalist Adam Cochran wrote in an X post. “Trump has instead announced ‘Dana White’ of the UFC as Press Secretary with our Dana having any idea.”

Connor Ewing, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, also weighed in.

“So what are the chances someone suggested this Dana White and Trump pulled a Four Seasons Total Landscaping?” he wrote in an X post.

The speculation ultimately reached Dana W. White herself, who politely rejected the job she was not offered late Saturday.

“To everyone texting me congratulations: thank you, but you have the wrong Dana White,” she wrote. “I’ve stood at a podium and taken questions from the Pentagon press corps. I have never stood in an octagon. I’d like to keep it that way.”

The White House did not immediately respond to questions from the Daily Beast.

Regardless, the UFC boss seemed less than inclined to accept the position Trump had publicly offered him. At a news conference in London on Saturday, White responded to questions about the president’s post by saying he was flying to Washington to meet with Trump, the Associated Press reported.

The multimillionaire appeared unconvinced that he could take on such a demanding job while continuing to run the UFC as its CEO.

“Yeah, I got a lot of jobs already,” he said.

Play Video

In the seemingly unlikely event that White takes the gig, he would follow the disastrous five-day tenure of Katie Zacharia, who was dumped after delivering just one 14-minute press briefing, while key parts of her résumé also came under scrutiny.

The president, for his part, appears hell-bent on shaking up his White House staff hierarchy following sweeping losses for Republicans across the country on Tuesday.

On Friday, Trump announced he was replacing former White House chief of staff Susie Wiles with his longtime aide Stephen Miller, the man widely known as the architect of Trump’s hostile immigration crackdown.

Rumors have also swirled that the president is mulling replacing his embattled Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, though the White House has denied such claims.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Laura EspositoBreaking News Reporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.