Kayfabe
ˈkāˌfāb/
In the fall of 1984 the United States was suddenly and maliciously attacked by the combined forces of the Soviet Union, Cuba and Nicaragua-yes Nicaragua. Just stay with me here. If it hadn't been for the courage of a ragtag group of teenagers led by Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen and Ferris Bueller's sister America as we know it could have been lost to history as just one more failed experiment in democracy.
Okay, so you caught me. I recently watched the classic 1980s movie "Red Dawn.” I haven't seen it since it first came out at the Villa Theater. Like my friends I was sure that I'd be just as ready as the heroes in the movie if the Commies started falling out of the sky and tried to take over the north side of Milwaukee. They wouldn't stand a chance.
Looking back over the past thirty years and knowing that the only Cuban invasion of the U.S was led by Gloria Estefan and her Miami Sound Machine it's easy to dismiss the threat posed by the "Evil Empire" and its minions. But despite the constant threat of mutual assured destruction at least back when I was coming of age we knew who our enemies were.
Growing up Ronald Reagan was my president - not that it mattered to me at the time. Like most kids stumbling through the haze of adolescence in the 1980s politics rarely crossed my radar. It was a joke. It’s hard to take your president seriously once you’ve seen him upstaged in a movie by a monkey.
I can’t help but think Reagan would have been an awesome dinner guest. Oh, the stories he could tell. From lifeguarding back in Dixon, Illinois to his years in Hollywood, to the governorship of California, to the presidency. Later in my own life I read more about Reagan and developed a deep respect for Reagan the man if not the politician. He wasn’t just a joke.
Speaking of . . . did you know that Donald Trump is in the World Wrestling Hall of Fame? Yes, he has a nearly thirty year relationship with World Wrestling Entertainment. He hosted two Wrestlemania events in Atlantic City and was even involved in a kayfabe several years ago. So what is a kayfabe, you may be asking yourself. I just learned the word myself recently. A kayfabe is the fake soap opera like storyline in professional wrestling that keeps people watching: the heroes and villains, the feuds and the angry rants. People don’t watch for the wrestling, they’re drawn to the drama. Millions of people love to watch wrestling. Love him or hate him it makes no difference. Just as professional wrestling is entertainment and not a sport Mr. Trump is an entertainer not a politician. It’s all part of the kayfabe.
In the past several months our president elect has behaved like a meth head in a bar fight lashing out at enemies and allies alike. He offended our neighbors to the south claiming that Mexico was sending us rapists and murderers and promising to build a wall to keep out the undesirables. He's damaged our relationship with China by threatening them with a trade war. He has insulted our European allies by describing NATO as "obsolete." When the pope noted that Christians should build bridges not walls Trump called his remarks "disgraceful." He tried to pick a fight with the pope.
I understand that Americans are tired of establishment politicians with their scripted messages. I get that political correctness can go too far and prevent people from having meaningful conversations for fear that someone might be offended. But if you don't think that Trump is a mean spirited thin skinned bully then either you haven't been paying attention or you just don't care because he hasn't attacked you personally, yet. Last January the New York Times published a list of 289 "people, places and things" that Trump has insulted on Twitter. That was a year ago. Just imagine how many more people, places and things have since been pissed on when he's been pissed off.
While campaigning in South Dakota last year Trump joked that, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and I wouldn't lose any voters." He hasn't used a gun but that hasn't stopped him from taking verbal shots at anyone and everyone who disagrees with him and his policies. And his supporters? As long as they can stay out of the line of fire they'll likely continue to support their leader.
It’s not so easy to drive through the small towns off the interstate in this country and look at the devastation. It’s a little bit like the backdrop in “Red Dawn.” No Russian attack but destruction nonetheless. Rust belt, coal belt, wheat belt, people are looking for something. They’re looking for hope. Would you want to be the presidential candidate who told people in the heartland the truth, that they’ve been passed by?
I had an uncle who was an encyclopedia salesman. When I was a kid almost any question I had was answered by the black and red Collier’s set. His job has gone the way of the abacus. But if he was still alive I can’t believe he’d be schlepping around those big black and red books. He would have moved on. Does anyone honestly believe Trump’s pledge to bring millions of jobs back to the states? That we’ll win so much we’ll get tired of winning? Or was he just the most entertaining character in this season’s reality tv lineup?
Our first summer under President Trump is still several months away. That means we’re also months away from two very different anniversaries. It has been fifty years since the famous “Summer of Love” when San Francisco became a magnet for hippies looking for love and music and drugs. It’s also been a half century since the “Long Hot Summer” of 1967 when 159 race riots broke out in cities across the country including Milwaukee, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit and more.
Donald Trump has brought the trash talking from professional wrestling into politics. Humiliating your opponents weakens them and keeps the microphones and cameras pointed at you. So while his act may have all the dignity of bum fights it has worked well for him so far. Blowing smoke is all he’s doing. It’s all theater. It’s kayfabe. I wonder what the sunrise would look like from the penthouse of Trump Tower through the smoke as New York burns.
Juan W.
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