Professional Wrestling Can Help Us Understand Trump

Quick Overview

Professional wrestling, characterized by the concept of "kayfabe" where the staged nature of the performance is maintained through a collective suspension of disbelief, provides a useful framework for understanding Donald Trump's political style, which often blurs reality and performance, especially in contrast to the solemnity found in traditional politics or the military.

Key Points: Professional wrestling operates on 'kayfabe,' a unique concept involving a collective suspension of disbelief where the audience knowingly accepts the staged reality. This concept of kayfabe, which involves 'make believe and world-building' without a fourth wall, is analogous to how Donald Trump operates in politics. Trump brings elements of wrestling performance into politics, characterized by a lack of solemnity, often using humor and memes effectively. Historical examples of humorless solemnity in power, such as Hitler, Franco, and Mussolini, contrast with the political style that incorporates wrestling's performance aspects. The White House account posting comedy videos about deportations, labeled as ASMR, exemplifies engaging in kayfabe by presenting serious actions humorously. The speaker argues that in Trump's political sphere, seriousness is performed rather than inherently present, allowing for absurdity to be revealed when humor is introduced into solemn situations.

Context: The video features two speakers, one notably wearing a red beanie and a plastic bag over his face, discussing the parallels between professional wrestling and Donald Trump's political persona. The core concept introduced is 'kayfabe,' which is defined as the unique element in wrestling where the audience tacitly agrees to treat the staged events as real, even while knowing the underlying truth.

Detailed Analysis

The discussion centers on using professional wrestling as a lens to analyze Donald Trump's political behavior, specifically through the concept of 'kayfabe.' Kayfabe is described as a unique element in wrestling that relies on the audience's collective suspension of disbelief, a shared agreement to treat the performance as real despite knowing it is staged; this is distinct from traditional theater because there is no 'fourth wall.' The speaker argues that Trump imports this performance style into politics, characterized by a lack of solemnity and an effective use of humor and memes. This is contrasted with historical fascist leaders like Hitler, Franco, and Mussolini, whose regimes were marked by humorless solemnity and the performance of seriousness. The speaker notes that when humor is introduced into a solemn space, the solemnity falls apart, revealing absurdity. An example cited is the official White House account posting comedy videos, sometimes labeling them ASMR, about deportations, which forces the audience to engage in a form of political kayfabe where serious actions are presented as a joke. The speaker concludes that the political actions are not genuinely bad in the performance context, but are bad because they are enacting something genuinely harmful, yet presenting it with the detachment of a wrestling 'heel' character.