Guest Post by Eric Peters
The headline has, as they say, more than one meaning. A “heel” is something like a cad or a rake. An untrustworthy person; the sort of person who hits on your wife and lifts a $20 out of your wallet when you’re not looking. Trump is that kind of person. He is also another kind of heel. The professional wrestling kind.
In a professional wrestling match, the heel is the bad guy that the old ladies ringside screech at. He’s the guy who hits the other guy over the head with a folding chair when the other guy’s back is turned. The Iron Sheik was a heel. So – and this is interesting – was Hulk Hogan.
Before he became a face, which in professional wrestling is the good guy. The guy who shakes off being hit over the head with a folding chair by the heel, gets back up off the mat and eventually pins the heel, to the exultation of the old ladies ringside.
Trump is both a heel and a face.
He was a face in 2016 – and again in 2024, playing opposite Biden’s heel. Biden – playing the heel – “stole” the 2020 election from Trump (probably true) which was the political equivalent of getting hit over the head with a folding chair. He spent the next four years shaking it off and getting up off the mat. At last, he stood firmly again, the old ladies (and not just them) cheering his recovery. He turned the tables on the Biden heel, who played his part by playing senile (not a hard role for him to play). Then, just in time, a new heel entered the ring – Kamala Harris. It was like Bobby “The Brain” Heenan coming to the rescue of a staggered Iron Sheik, striking Hogan with a cane, all to no avail. Trump played his part at Butler, PA to perfection. He even had Hogan himself make an appearance at his show – the Republican National Convention.
As the resurgent face, Trump won the match.
And then became the heel. It has got to be an act. There is no other way to explain not just his about-faces but his clearly deliberate abuse of his own supporters; his mocking them to their faces by talking about other men’s assets. His contemptuous dismissal of their troubles and concerns. There is no effort at all to be politic about his politics. This is not normal. Going back on promises, yes. They all do this. But George H.W. Bush didn’t snicker at those who bought his No New Taxes promises. He just broke his promise. Even The Chimp – as bad as he was – never outright farted in the faces of his supporters like Trump does. He does not have to fart in their faces, yet he does it anyhow.
Why?
We are told – and there is truth in this – that Trump is an instinctive politician, which is to say he knows how to work a room. All successful politicians know how to work a room. Slick Willie excelled at this; his wife not so much. The interesting thing is that Trump – who knows how to work a room – is working to clear the room of almost everyone who once supported him. This is astounding because it is gratuitous. Most politicians whose policies have become unpopular try hard to regain their popularity. Nixon famously went out among the anti-war hippies gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, much to the consternation of the Secret Service. Trump himself put the pedal to the metal in 2024, telling the crowds everything they wanted to hear and nothing he knew they didn’t want to hear.
Had he told the crowds – back in ’24 – that he was going to Make Sure Iran Never Gets a Nuclear Weapon, even if it meant starting a major war, even if it meant Americans would be paying hugely at the pump, it’s likely Harris would he president. Had he brought out the Tech Bros at his rallies and talked about how every American town needs data centers and Flock cameras, the same. The point being Trump knows perfectly well what the public wants and doesn’t. That is why he told the public what he knew it wanted to hear. Yet now he tells the public what he knows it does not want to hear.
This – again – is a very different thing than doing what he knows the public didn’t want done.
Conclusion? The whole thing’s been a heel-face act all along. Which is to say, Trump has always been a heel who pretended to be a face for awhile. Many of us fell for the show – me among them (mea culpa). It is now a matter of what comes next.
What they have planned for us.
In other words, it’s never been organic. That’s an illusion. Just like Hogan getting hit over the head with a folding chair.
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[ H/T The Burning Platform ]
The headline has, as they say, more than one meaning. A “heel” is something like a cad or a rake. An untrustworthy person; the sort of person who hits on your wife and lifts a $20 out of your wallet when you’re not looking. Trump is that kind of person. He is also another kind of heel. The professional wrestling kind.
In a professional wrestling match, the heel is the bad guy that the old ladies ringside screech at. He’s the guy who hits the other guy over the head with a folding chair when the other guy’s back is turned. The Iron Sheik was a heel. So – and this is interesting – was Hulk Hogan.
Before he became a face, which in professional wrestling is the good guy. The guy who shakes off being hit over the head with a folding chair by the heel, gets back up off the mat and eventually pins the heel, to the exultation of the old ladies ringside.
Trump is both a heel and a face.
He was a face in 2016 – and again in 2024, playing opposite Biden’s heel. Biden – playing the heel – “stole” the 2020 election from Trump (probably true) which was the political equivalent of getting hit over the head with a folding chair. He spent the next four years shaking it off and getting up off the mat. At last, he stood firmly again, the old ladies (and not just them) cheering his recovery. He turned the tables on the Biden heel, who played his part by playing senile (not a hard role for him to play). Then, just in time, a new heel entered the ring – Kamala Harris. It was like Bobby “The Brain” Heenan coming to the rescue of a staggered Iron Sheik, striking Hogan with a cane, all to no avail. Trump played his part at Butler, PA to perfection. He even had Hogan himself make an appearance at his show – the Republican National Convention.
As the resurgent face, Trump won the match.
And then became the heel. It has got to be an act. There is no other way to explain not just his about-faces but his clearly deliberate abuse of his own supporters; his mocking them to their faces by talking about other men’s assets. His contemptuous dismissal of their troubles and concerns. There is no effort at all to be politic about his politics. This is not normal. Going back on promises, yes. They all do this. But George H.W. Bush didn’t snicker at those who bought his No New Taxes promises. He just broke his promise. Even The Chimp – as bad as he was – never outright farted in the faces of his supporters like Trump does. He does not have to fart in their faces, yet he does it anyhow.
Why?
We are told – and there is truth in this – that Trump is an instinctive politician, which is to say he knows how to work a room. All successful politicians know how to work a room. Slick Willie excelled at this; his wife not so much. The interesting thing is that Trump – who knows how to work a room – is working to clear the room of almost everyone who once supported him. This is astounding because it is gratuitous. Most politicians whose policies have become unpopular try hard to regain their popularity. Nixon famously went out among the anti-war hippies gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, much to the consternation of the Secret Service. Trump himself put the pedal to the metal in 2024, telling the crowds everything they wanted to hear and nothing he knew they didn’t want to hear.
Had he told the crowds – back in ’24 – that he was going to Make Sure Iran Never Gets a Nuclear Weapon, even if it meant starting a major war, even if it meant Americans would be paying hugely at the pump, it’s likely Harris would he president. Had he brought out the Tech Bros at his rallies and talked about how every American town needs data centers and Flock cameras, the same. The point being Trump knows perfectly well what the public wants and doesn’t. That is why he told the public what he knew it wanted to hear. Yet now he tells the public what he knows it does not want to hear.
This – again – is a very different thing than doing what he knows the public didn’t want done.
Conclusion? The whole thing’s been a heel-face act all along. Which is to say, Trump has always been a heel who pretended to be a face for awhile. Many of us fell for the show – me among them (mea culpa). It is now a matter of what comes next.
What they have planned for us.
In other words, it’s never been organic. That’s an illusion. Just like Hogan getting hit over the head with a folding chair.
Tweet
Continue reading...
[ H/T The Burning Platform ]
