Fake Fight, Real Problems

by Tom Haughey

I remember as a child visiting my grandmother’s house in Philadelphia. Uncle Joe generally had the old black and white TV tuned to wrestling. The matches, to the best of my recollection, originated in that city, and Joe considered them a hoot. Yes, he knew the fighting was fake, but it seemed so real. He rooted for certain fighters whenever they appeared. Joe was retired and working class (much the same as many of the voters who elected Donald Trump).

Now we’ve all seen the tweet video of Trump beating up wrestling promoter McMahon at ringside with the letters CNN superimposed over the promoter’s face. The media are in a state of shock. How could the president tweet something that is so violent and might inspire attacks on CNN reporters? Yes, Americans are so stupid they believe wrestling is real and can be incited by it. Not! The media simply don’t understand blue collar workers or rust belt America or wrestling. If anything, wrestling is a morality play which allows fans a vicarious outlet for their aggression. The bad wrestler is beaten by the good one to the delight of fans. In this tweet the good wrestler (Trump) defeats the bad wrestler (CNN) which deceives the world with “fake news”. What could be better than that?

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