Tonight is the third and final Presidential Debate which puts the major question into play—will TrumpMania continue to run wild, or will the United States vote to drop the big leg on Donald’s Trump four-year run as Commander-In-Chief?
Someone who has been all too familiar with President Trump’s reign is Lavie Margolin, author of the 2018 book, TrumpMania, which has recently released an expanded 2020 edition (purchase here).
During the 30-minute chat, Lavie Margolin talks to Dominic DeAngelo about some of the pro wrestling tactics Trump has taken on his quest for 2020 reelection which includes the primary topic of the world, COVID-19:
“I think in terms of the pandemic it’s trying to shape the reality as (A) you see it or want to be seen, but (B) how you feel your audience wants to see it. I think most self-affirming for him is when he has the rallies and people aren’t wearing masks and he says that it hasn’t really affected anyone even though 20,000 are being reported to having died, but his audience doesn’t want to wear masks and he starts to play off that ‘the freedom to do what you want’ and so it’s that very pro wrestling element that Vince McMahon can wrap himself in a different way where it’s sort of like the truth or the reality as you want it to be seen.”
As far as his election campaign against his Democratic counterpart in Joe Biden goes, Lavie thinks that Donald is pulling from his old box of gimmicks, but unlike 2016, they aren’t packing as much of a punch:
“So Trump has done a little bit of his old tactics with saying, affirming different nicknames to Biden and saying he’s confused and all those other things…,” Lavie notes. “I think he has to work on his catchphrases. It’s sort of like WWE during a down period where The Rock come up with ‘Boots 2 Whatever.’ Where it’s sort of like your trying catchphrase, but nobody really cares. It’s not hitting.”
“When you look at their actions and reactions to things, they both seem very vulnerable and they need reinforcement so in some ways both have been deemed successful as business people but in other ways they’ve been harshly criticized. They’ve gotten opportunities from family or made major mistakes and had to come back from them so the two of them reinforce each other. You can see it to a ridiculous degree on WWE programming like, ‘This billionaire businessman, successful Donald Trump, he knows “The Art Of The Deal”‘ It’s sort of like they have to keep reinforcing that among each other in order to gain confidence.”
Follow Lavie Margolin on Twitter @Laviemarg.
(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone)
More transcriptions to come but you can listen to the podcast form of the interview below:
Read our full review of TrumpMania: Ringside Reviews: ‘TrumpMania: Vince McMahon, WWE & The Making Of America’s 45th President’
