MMA analyst Luke Thomas is reading Colby Covington’s decision to walk away from his aggressive pro-Trump persona as a sign of something much larger than one athlete’s personal grievances.
In a recent episode of Luke Thomas Gets Political, Thomas broke down Covington’s apparent public retirement of his MAGA troll character.
He said, “I don’t know if it’s the straw that broke the camel’s back that he wasn’t on the White House card. It’s hard to say exactly where that fits in, but it’s all part of the same kind of betrayal process where all these people kind of transactionally expected a return on this investment, didn’t get it, and now wondering what the whole point of it was.”
Thomas pointed to a pattern of smaller snubs Covington absorbed over the years, including Trump naming Khabib as his favorite athlete rather than Covington, moments Covington previously seemed willing to let slide.
“He would kind of let it slide,” Thomas noted. The willingness to finally walk away, in Thomas’s view, reflects how Trump “doesn’t have quite the same grip” on the people who helped return him to power in 2024.
“All of these little betrayals have been adding up,” Thomas said. “This is true on affordability. It’s true on prosecuting the Epstein files. It’s true on Iran. It’s true on any number of things and you’re seeing a lot of defections from some of the groups that collectively returned him to power in 2024.”
Thomas also noted polling data backing up his read of the situation. “There are polls to this effect that young men’s support for him has collapsed,” he said, calling Covington’s shift “a great example of that.”
He also noted that “Trump’s stock is falling, particularly with young men.”
During the episode, Thomas also questioned what Covington’s identity even looks like now that the persona has been abandoned.
“I don’t know who he is to the fan base without it,” Thomas said. “The depth and the commitment to the bit was so deep that I don’t think there’s any frame of reference to really understand what value he brings without it.”
Thomas was equally blunt about Covington’s reported consideration of running for Senate or governor, suggesting the UFC star start considerably smaller.
“Let’s start with PTA,” he said. “Let’s start with neighborhood watch. I think that’s a more suitable level of oversight that he could meaningfully contribute to.”
