Are you old enough to have witnessed Donald Trump’s start as a professional wrestling star in 2004?
In case you’re among the few people who don’t already know this, pro wrestling is that strange world of glitzy fake drama, with fake violence and scripted conflict, to elicit screaming anger or support from an engaged audience. It (like Trump) glorifies looks and TV appeal, has few or conflicting ethical boundaries, and much of the drama is derived from betrayal and surprise.
Above, an August 2019 WWE Smackdown Live stage and audience in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
It’s also a hobby that (like Trump 2.0) has transcended demographics, and it is especially popular among the surprising combo of butch lesbians, burly conservative farmers, People of Color, and pampered princesses.
I know this through years of second-hand exposure. My former partner of 15 years loved pro wrestling as “male soap opera,” so it was on in our house at least twice a week, and we caught pay-per-views and live tapings, too.
Donald Trump actually began hosting pro wrestling events in the early 1990s. He ventured into the stage of professional wrestling around the same time he was kicking off his 14-year run on “The Apprentice“ and “Celebrity Apprentice.”
True story: at the time, I remember actually turning to my girlfriend and saying something like, “We’re in big trouble.” Because at that time, Trump had already unsuccessfully run for president in 2000, so it was clear his eyes were already on the most powerful post in the world.
As he ventured into entertainment through the Apprentice series, and then pro wrestling, it was also clear he would do anything to get and maintain the public’s attention whether positive or negative, and that people across all spectrums of life would willingly give it to him.
Donald Trump pumps his fist at a Turning Point Action’s Believers summit in July 2024 (photo credit Gage Skidmore)
Now, here we are 20 years later, with Trump’s second presidency. He’s tossing out all kinds of executive orders, proclamations and sound bites at a flurrying pace, creating an unprecedented level of confusion and drama after just 10 days in office. Even some Republicans are shaken by it.
It’s like the political version of a professional wrestling battle royal, where all the characters are smashing each other around and you can’t keep track of who’s still standing, who’s down for the count, and who is on who else’s team.
He’s got us all rightly alarmed. And a whole lot of progressives are trying to sound that alarm even louder, with the best of intentions, I believe. They’re social media posting at a furious rate, conducting tearful television interviews, and inciting outrage or sadness. And more, thinking this is helpful activism.
I don’t think it is.
Saying “no” to Trump’s drama is uncommon right now
Consider that when you vent your emotional reactions on Facebook, when you proclaim how bad it is and worse yet proclaim it’s “the worst ever,” when you meld emotion with policy discussions, you’re playing right into Trump’s hands.
You’re giving a television-trained power-grabber and attention-seeker the drama he wants, needs and relies upon to build his own appeal. Because like no one ever before, Trump proves the adage that bad publicity is better than no publicity.
Yes, President Donald Trump’s second term is likely to be the most challenging, divisive, and perhaps dangerous four years in our country’s history. This is a given.
And I realize we think we are part of the solution when we sound the alarm over and over, louder and louder. We think that being upset, or getting others upset, over Trump is somehow going to promote social justice.
I understand; I spent more than two decades in that mentality and used to think my role as an “advocacy” journalist and writer was to look for injustices, reveal them, and inspire outrage over them.
Now, I realize my folly. I now realize what a chump I’ve been accidentally paving the way for Trump, enabling his strategies to achieve power, and setting the stage for future leaders like him.
In the LGBTQ and allied community, I feel pretty alone in this realization. I see few, if any, calls for calm or caution. Rather, it’s all “fight, fight, fight” (and fundraise), just like Trump after surviving the assassination attempt that nicked his ear.
There is no restraint to be found, though there is emotion in abundance. As a result we’re giving Trump exactly what he wants and needs to keep building appeal and power: more drama. More division. More agony. More help creating the drama, that he’ll exploit to spread more fear.
When we’re lost in that emotional cycle of reaction to Trump, some other things happen that are, to be blunt, very Trumpian. More false rumors get spread. We exaggerate or distort. We exploit people’s emotions and try to push their buttons. We start mocking Trump and his followers with taunts befitting a kid in high school. We become the very things we so dislike about him.
It’s time to break the cycle.
As Trump tries to generate more drama, some are catching on
I actually started this column last week, and like many times before, became sidelined by timely urgent needs including wrapping up the new magazine edition coming out this week.
Since my delay, Trump has compared the optics of his deportation scare with the movie “Con Air.” His chief of immigration arranged for TV personality Dr. Phil to tape a deportation scene for his show.
New Homeland Security chief Kristi Noehm provided her own “made for TV” collection of stills. Pundits, many of whom lathered the dramatic reactions of outrage, are now counseling against taking the bait of Trump’s chaos — especially as institutions like the courts, and responsible legislators from both sides of the aisle are fulfilling their intended guardrail roles.
It’s clearer than ever that our new president is trying to generate drama befitting TV, then leverage it, AND that folks are catching on.
I’ve faced this conundrum many times before and am facing it even now: do I put aside the concerns I expressed above and join the crowd, striving to amplify the fear and worry? Do I join the fear-mongering?
In the past, I’ve followed the angry crowd and sometimes helped incite it. Or, I’ve paralyzed myself, unable ethically to go along with the fear-mongering yet also not brave or clear-headed enough to press for a different way.
This time, I’m not able or willing to paralyze, or to “go along.” I want and need a different way, and I’m convinced many members of the LGBTQ+ community, including allies, secretly want and need the same.
They, too, are looking for thoughtfulness to have a greater place in the social justice playbook, and are tired of the increasingly performative nature of responses to Trump’s chaos. I think many others dislike the growing exaggeration and fear-mongering among liberals as much as conservatives, feel a little heartbreak when they see anti-Trump folk tossing around personal insults, and don’t want grievance as the key gel holding our communities together.
The constant stress, despair, and doom-saying proclamations aren’t bolstering our movement and inspiring unity. They’re sapping our souls, undermining our goals, and playing into the hands of the great entertainer and the drama he’s seeking to manufacture.
It’s time for new approaches, and even a hint of restraint rather than reactivity is a great place to start.
