Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Politics is Professional Wrestling: America's Greatest "Heel" Donald Trump Versus Univision


Again, Donald Trump has demonstrated how he is a student of professional wrestling. In an earlier essay, I extensively detailed the heel (villain) role that Trump is playing . There was a passage that was edited out of the essay when it ran at Salon, one that is especially fitting given Donald Trump's promo against Univision earlier today. 

[Trump's press conference and stump speech was a clinic in how to get "heat" from an audience. Trump satisfied and moved his supporters; he created anger and rage among his detractors. This is the definition of a perfect wrestling promo.]

I originally included this wonderful description of the modus operandi of the professional wrestling
heel from the book Time Heels: Cheating, Stealing, Spandex and the Most Villainous Moments in the History of Pro Wrestling:
We the heels do not need permission to execute our plans. We decide who, we decide when and there is no guarantee that we will either show up at the match or stay to the end. 
It is our prerogative to demand championship opportunities and we cost others theirs in favour of our own.

The truth is, we can do whatever we want. We are not constrained by rules and regulations. Sympathy and morality are for the weak-willed. There are rules in the world of heels of course but never forget that winning is everything! 
Did you honestly think we were your friend or ally? You are online in the spotlight because we say so. Your sole purpose is to serve the great good: our own. 
Heels are arrogant, self-serving, self-involved, cocky, bold, conniving, calculating and treacherous. 
We will strive to annihilate all competition to ensure victory through careful planning and sometimes, even destruction. There can be only one…better us than them.
We can also be made to appear weak in the face of danger. Often we run away when the odds look impossible but never forget that the objective is to win therefore we will live on to fight another day when the conditions will suit our agenda, not yours.
The ideal way to bring down a heel is to have a champion who through force of will, persistence, and righteousness of cause outlasts, outsmarts, and eventually vanquishes them. The heel should also be brought down in part because of their cowardice and other character defects. Fox News made Donald Trump. But, he has chosen to "go into business" for himself, disobeying his masters.

Who in the Republican Party will remove Donald Trump from the spotlight? Or will he, as some heels do, simply choose to walk away when the challenges become to great, all the while giving a big middle finger to the fans simply because he can?

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