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TThe rump is the last show. He is a master of this, the billionaire Barnum, but his insatiable greed makes him turn from entertainment to scandal. If the Democrats had realized this in the past and realized the power that the man is playing and the weaknesses of the society that he is trying to, instead of mocking it, maybe we would not be in this mess.
In fact, if he had done what comedian and magician Munya Chawawa does in his powerful, passionate and incredibly inspiring writings Wrestling With Trump, it might be a slightly better world today. Chawawa takes the not-so-new but widely-used idea that Trump’s campaign and his team and government style use a playbook created by the most prominent promoters of the US wrestling industry, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). WWE was founded by Vince McMahon and his late wife, Linda. Vince resigned from various businesses in 2024 after accusations of prostitution and rape (he has strongly denied this). Linda is now the United States Secretary of Education.
Chawawa has loved wrestling since he was a child (we see his box of wrestlers and the joy on his face when he meets some of his heroes and reminisces with other devotees about the annual WrestleMania tournament held by WWE and other important moments in its history). It makes him a useful guide to the situation for viewers who may not be in the know, a articulate explainer of the Trump-wrestlemaniac concept, and a good interviewer of people on both sides.
The pages of the play that are mostly told by Trump and his people — if they’re not taken out at all — are affected by hyperbole, smack talk and kayfabe. The first two are self-explanatory and appear in almost every Trumpian speech. Everything – including especially the president himself – is the greatest and the best. Except, of course, if it’s really bad. The world is divided into clear heroes (white Americans) and villains (non-Americans, non-white Americans), as they are divided into “Babyfaces” (the good guys who play by the rules) and “Heels” (those who don’t and those who don’t) when fighting. The speech, whether at a political rally or a rally, is designed to stir up the crowd, to stir up bloodlust, to get them to take action. Trash talking is the catharsis for any number of unspeakable frustrations. It is probably a useful safety valve in early conditions. When it leads to the election of a world leader who promises to rid the world of all the people who seem to be the cause of the chaos – less.
But it is kayfabe that is the key to Trump’s success. Kayfabe, in wrestling, I pretend that everything is real – that the invective is unscripted, that the heels and heroes are real, that the moves are not made up, and that bodyslams, hip checks and chokeholds are as dangerous and painful as they seem. For as long as the fight goes on, you’re living in an illusion. Nothing is real except what you are told you are seeing.
Even in a war-torn country, this can have its drawbacks. Chawawa meets a professional wrestler who for many years has been fighting under the name “Progressive Liberal” and is so hated for it that now he seems dead behind the eyes. It’s really unstable.
Take kayfabe and its blurring of the lines between truth and lies from the branch of struggle and place it in politics, however, the scale and depth of the problems it creates is – has been – dire. Chawawa speaks to Maga people who can call Trump a “blue billionaire” without batting an eyelid – a sign of the incredible power he has to distort ideas, demolish contradictions and reshape reality to suit him.
Chawawa interviews former Trump campaign adviser Sam Nunberg, who says he was informed by Trump’s love of the wrestling world — specifically “wrestling news” — in planning his strategy. Politics should be fun, wonders Chawawa. Yes, says Nunberg confidently. Is this the best politics we are seeing now? Nunberg stands by his advice, though he calls himself “There is no special pleader for January 6. That was a bad day for America.” Chaawa kicks. Is Trump a Heel now, or a Babyface – the one who follows the rules of honor. “Trump follows his orders,” Nunberg says. Expect increased political pressure in the coming years. And it really, really hurts.
