Idiocracy 2, the real life sequel

If only Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho were available to run for president under the Republican banner. He would be so much better than the actual nominee, who is a monster. Not to put too fine a point on it. And a fascist, and those are not mutually exclusive.

There is a lot that is strange about this time. One of the hardest ideas to believe is that a real pro wrestling villain has spent 4 years in the Oval Office and is now going for a second round.

It’s true, though. You might be surprised that the stories you tell about professional wrestling translate disastrously into the real world. But maybe it’s no surprise. Part of it is the black-and-white, good-versus-evil framing. Part of it is the loose mixing of reality and theater, fact and lies. It’s called Neokayfabe. I refuse to look up the term, but Heather Cox Richardson has something to say about it.

Trump engaged in a neo-kayfabe storyline with World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon in 2007, billed in part as a fight over her. He was eventually inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and many observers have drawn the connection between neo-kayfabe and his approach to politics. In fact, he explicitly blended the two when he selected McMahon’s wife, Linda, to head the U.S. Small Business Administration during his presidency.

Neokayfabe and politics collided again last night at the Republican National Convention, with Linda McMahon, wrestler Hulk Hogan and musician Kid Rock, whose music is featured at wrestling events and who is also a member of the WWE Hall of Fame, all in attendance.

“So all you criminals, all you thugs, all you scoundrels… What you gonna do when Donald Trump and all these Trumpamaniacs get you, bro?!” Hogan shouted to loud applause after ripping off his shirt to reveal a Trump-Vance shirt. Like the other performers at the convention, he was painting a portrait of Trump’s presidency and the United States since Trump left office, a fantasy of good and evil. Hogan stressed that there was no way Trump would achieve unity in Milwaukee. His approach to the world can’t be moderated. It depends on the idea that there are two teams in the show and one has to beat the other.

Part of that storyline will require rewriting not just the recent past, but our history. At last night’s convention, Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle, said, “It’s no wonder that the heroes who stormed the beaches of Normandy and defied communism say, sadly, they no longer recognize our country.” But the Allied soldiers in World War II weren’t fighting communism. They were fighting fascism. The three great Allied powers were Britain, the United States, and the communist Soviet Union.

It could be that Guilfoyle misspoke, or that she doesn’t even know the most basic facts of our history. Or it could be that people like Guilfoyle, by rewriting that history and putting America on the side of the fascists, hope to make that alliance more attractive to today’s MAGA followers.