In the spring of 2008, Donald Trump descended a golden escalator in the lobby of Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan to lend his name and his support to a brand new MMA promotion – Affliction. This was a full decade ago, practically another lifetime in terms of American political and cultural life, and back then nobody gave much thought to the possibility of a Trump presidency. Instead, he was just another famous person on TV who was willing to attach his name to things, and the thing he’d chosen in the world of professional cage fighting was a new organization helmed by Affliction Clothing Vice President Tom Atencio, which Trump assured people would do “very well.” “I will say these are tough-looking guys,” Trump said when he stepped up to the dais at that first Affliction press conference. To his right sat former UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia . On his left, the final PRIDE heavyweight champ Fedor Emelianenko