RASSLIN’
Princeton University Professor Eddie Glaude made an observation the other morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that was both amusing and frightening.
He was reacting to the “fake news” that was published the night before in the “failing New York Times.”
The Times got hold of ten years of Donald Trump’s tax returns beginning in the mid-1980’s and found that he lost over ONE BILLION DOLLARS during that period. No taxpayer in history had suffered greater losses. Ironically, it was during this period when he had a ghostwriter write “The Art of the Deal.”
Trump’s boasts of business successes didn’t match the numbers on those tax returns. He has continually exaggerated his wealth, and now we have proof it was a myth. Rather than being what he sold America, a self-made billionaire, it turns out he was an incompetent heir who blew the $413 million given to him by his father, Fred Trump. In essence he blew a billion dollars of his Papa’s money, which a Democratic candidate should club him with mercilessly on the debate stage.
Many analysts theorize that the reason Trump is so private about his tax returns is that they’ll show how little wealth he actually has.
Professor Glaude’s theory is that Trump supporters will be unfazed by this new revelation. He compares them to fans of professional wrestling, devotees of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In Mississippi they pronounce the sport as “rassling.”
Glaude said his grandfather and other family members watched these matches on television and in person with great enthusiasm, even though they knew the whole thing was a fraud. Everything was staged, and the wrestlers themselves were steroid-enhanced actors with gymnastic abilities and charismatic personalities. They inflicted horrific fake punishment on one another, and just when it seemed the hero was close to unconsciousness he’d revive himself, overcome his exhaustion, and win the match to the cheers of the crowd. Fans not only booed the villains but often threw things at them.
I remember taking my 12-year-old son to the sold-out Worcester Centrum (15,000 seats) in the early 1990’s to see Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Jake the Snake, Randy (Macho Man) Savage, Ravishing Rick Rude, and the Ultimate Warrior. It was a three-hour show ending with Hulk Hogan standing in the middle of the ring waving to screaming fans after winning a match worthy of Rocky Balboa. He got hit in the head with a metal chair and still managed to be victorious.
It was great entertainment.
In similar fashion, according to the professor, Trump supporters have always known he’s a fraud. While they won’t admit it, they’ve accepted his fraudulent claims and behaviors from the first day of his campaign in 2015.
They don’t care. They simply don’t care. They have an unshakeable faith in this fraud, and they will never stop supporting him.
They find him entertaining.
Here’s the difference. When they turned off the TV or returned from the arena, they went on with their lives. Hulk, Andre, and Randy had no bearing on their existence. They weren’t a factor.
But Donald Trump? He’s an entertainer who is completely ignorant about how government works, and he has divided the country in a way it hasn’t been divided since the Civil War. At this point in time he’s trampling on the United States Constitution.
Yet 40% of this nation’s voters still think he’s Hulk Hogan.
What are you gonna do?
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