`I’ve been thinking a lot about the presidential election, and what I believe nearly everyone missed about the Trump campaign method. Trump presented himself as a laughable candidate to many people, despite constant primary victories, humiliating his opponents in debates, and massive rallies.
Last week on I mapped out a theory about how he used pro wrestling style metafictional storytelling to talk past the media and disbelieving public. It’s a 51 tweet essay, posted below (also pinned on my twitter page itself). For additional thoughts, read this great travelogue from Kaleb Horton via MTV, “Winter in America“.
I’ve been thinking about how Trump won the Prez election using WWE style pro wrestling. Storytelling over politics. 1/50 pic.twitter.com/FEmaswfJTm
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Like watching wrestling, 1-0n-1 a lot of people don’t talk about voting Trump. 2/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Wrestling is a simple but nuanced way of telling stories. It’s about big men making big actions that convey intent & emotion. 3/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Lets be clear, everyone 12+ watching pro wrestling knows it is a performance. 4/50 pic.twitter.com/l9fRjLrWak
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Still the audience is always savvily negotiating between reality and fiction of it. 5/50https://t.co/v8VY3esTIF@Radiolab
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Donald Trump is a WWE Hall-of-Famer. Hosted 2 Wrestlemanias, & appeared at shows, and had a main event at Mania 23. 6/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
A basic wrestling story goes: wrestler wants a belt other wrestler has. Threats & fights escalate until victory. 7/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
There’s a good wrestler & bad wrestler. In modern WWE good/bad are malleable—selfish trash talkers are very popular. 8/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Think: CM Punk, The Rock, Roddy Piper. People you can’t help but love despite what they do, The Cool Heel. Donald Trump. 9/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Wrestlers must speak loudly, clearly, succinctly, in order to reach the back rows & make the most impact in short amounts of time. 10/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
The best wrestler characters are amped up versions of the actual personalities. Fans understand this is hyperbolic performance. 11/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
No matter how awful wrestlers behave, it can be ironically embraced as fiction. 12/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Their opponent’s might be bad too, but not Cool. They’re offensively boring or just worn out their welcome. 13/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Ben Carson, “Can somebody attack me please?” 14/50 pic.twitter.com/UAP79FYjyB
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Think: John Cena, Roman Reigns, Jack Swagger. Hilary Clinton. 15/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Individually fans choose how much of what the wrestler says reflects what they REALLY believe, vs how much is just their act. 16/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
If you don’t like something about a wrestler, you overlook it as a fictional part of the show—just creating Heat. 17/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Heat: A wrestler generating negative reaction toward themselves to maintain attention of the audience. 18/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Other traits are accepted by individual audience members as core character traits: That’s real because I believe it. 19/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Being Factually Right isn’t important. Popularity and consensus are created through cool tactics, & demonstrations of swagger. 20/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
For instance: Stone Cold is right, because of the persuasive confident way he speaks, not because of what he says. 21/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Wrestlers who stake their argument on being logically Right alone, get framed as whiners, weaklings, losers. 22/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Wrestlers build their persona by defeating lesser opponents—jobbers. 23/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Look..
24/50 pic.twitter.com/f47oTm05DW— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
at…
25/50 pic.twitter.com/dWBZzn9msY— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
these…
26/50 pic.twitter.com/ltwbdo3OCY— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
jobbers.
27/50 pic.twitter.com/F8VWyqaPzx— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Casting of heroes & villains is reinforced by show’s producers, directing, & non-wrestling actor participants. 28/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
In short, in pro wrestling, every aspect of the mise en scène is controlled to tell the predetermined story. 29/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Except, the wrestlers: Talented performers are given some freedom. Their rawest moments can create the deepest audience connection. 30/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
For example (hard times)https://t.co/xczhNG3Bw7
31/50— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
For example (pipe bomb)⁰https://t.co/h0zCXvcOFz
32/50— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
For example (Talking Smack)https://t.co/U8jQcQ96pa
33/50— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
WWE exploits that anger. Politicians want to exploit that anger. The authenticity. But they can’t cede control. 34/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Donald Trump knows all this from living on tv with a camera in his face for decades. 35/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
The Story has to have a nonstop build of sweat & tension, with swerves to keep everyone invested util the end. 36/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Trump spoke loudly & directly as a Champion to the whole stadium, reaching those who’d never respond to a calm reasonable Candidate. 37/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Trump won because his performed authenticity connected him to masses trained to pick & choose the level of reality in his performance. 38/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Their very disbelief in Trump’s audacity helped them embrace him: I know THIS is true, the rest just to con the rubes. 39/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Even if the Trump audience doesn’t agree w/ him, the desire to see be part of the show keeps them invested. 40/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
The desire to follow the story to the end, a definitive conclusion, is too beguiling. 41/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Through Trump’s reframing of reality, everything said about him becomes part of the Trump Victory… 42/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
A meta reality show where Trump, as the central figure, MUST obviously be the hero. 43/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Trump understands that the world accepts him as a potentially fictional character, someone who doesn’t fully exist. 44/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
And weaponized that as part of his campaign strategy. 45/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
In the end, for some, the election may feel like a non-reality they can turn the channel on. 46/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Trumps victory wasn’t of ideals, truth, or message. It was the victory of Story told to people who hadn’t been spoken to for years. 47/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Democrats lost, not because pro wrestling fans voted for Trump… 48/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
but because they didn’t have a story worth telling, in a language they don’t know. 49/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
Viewed thru WWE style storytelling: the media, the Rep & Dem parties, Hillary campaign, naysayers who had no idea what was going on… 50/50
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
handed Trump everything he needed, to tell his story, to win, because they didn’t know they were in his wrestling ring. 51/50 pic.twitter.com/5CAh7K69jf
— OneWordLong (@OneWordLong) November 20, 2016
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