Donald Trump is Like a Championship Wrestler, His Fans Don’t Care if He is Real

Trump shaving WWE's czar Vince McMahon head after DT's pretend victory over the wrestling impresario. (TGP screenshot)

Every now and then, a con man gets so bold that he flaunts the gullibility of his mark. No one really knows why and, in fact, it's a very risky move. Teasing the mark is a questionable strategy, if it's even a strategy at all. I would propose that the con man, a narcissistic machiavellian, does it just to feel the power. What else would explain a person who is on the verge of executing a perfect strategy to fleece a sucker deciding to risk it all with no clear advantage to be had.

The first time, Donald Trump said that he could “stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters." He basically called his followers suckers to their faces and they just laughed it off. I suspect that Trump was flexing his political muscles before the GOP elite while getting a bit of an ego boost at same time. This time, just before the New Hampshire primary Trump called Ted Cruz a “pussy.” After playing the bible card once or twice in the Southern States I suspect that Donald Trump has, to some extent, fallen victim to his massive ego. Being the con man that he is, his ego is wrapped around a fundamental belief that he deserves to live by different rules than the rest of us lesser beings. For a person who feels superior and entitled, the ultimate shot of power and affirmation is to be able to pronounce that assertion in the starkest of terms. There is no better feeling for the machiavellian narcissist than to pronounce their superiority and hear the lesser beings confirm their position.

Luckily for Trump, the GOP base is longing for a right wing strongman. The anger at the elites in both parties manifest a longing for a savior figure. On the left it tends to be a working class hero and on the right its a right wing power figure with an iron fist, and in the case of Trump an iron head. Also luckily for him, this makes them prime marks for a grifter. Suckers waiting to be had for a con man with no scruples and few, if any, political positions. Trump is like a championship wrestler, his fans don't care if he is real. They don't want a real candidate, they want someone who, if he were real, would support all of the things that they believe. They want the political equivalent of “pandemonium” at a WWF match. A high that seems so real that they can overlook the surrounding theatre that screams out “this is all a fraud.”

At this point and based on the size of his poll leads, I suspect that the only person who can knock Trump from the top GOP position is Trump. As ragged and feckless as the GOP field opposing him seems, only his exceptionally flawed ego could be his undoing. Then again, a sucker who really wants to be fleeced is hard to shake. Trump might not be able to lose this thing, no matter how hard he tries.