Popular Press
Wrestling with 'The Donald'
Anthropology News
(2017)
Abstract
Trump’s political style subverts dominant conventions through humor and chaos, maximizing entertainment value as he flouts presidential norms. How to best explain the ongoing, day-to-day spectacle of Trump’s presidency? I suggest we borrow a concept from the world of professional wrestling where hyperreality converges with spectacle to produce the same strange amalgamation of bravado, hyperbole, and exaggeration (and outright lies) that marks Trumpian politics. That concept is kayfabe. Kayfabe allows Trumpian discourse to create its own internal reality filled with “alternative facts” that are used to determine what is true. In other words, kayfabe ensures that questions of truth and accuracy are not judged according to standards established outside the fourth wall of the theater, but inside the storyworld constructed on the stage or in the wrestling ring—or on the reality-television set of the Trump White House.
Keywords
- post-truth,
- hyperreality,
- carnivalesque,
- language and politics,
- Donald Trump,
- professional wrestling,
- kayfabe,
- spectacle,
- truth
Disciplines
Publication Date
September 5, 2017
DOI
10.1111/AN.593
Publisher Statement
Copyright 2017 American Anthropological Association
Citation Information
Adam Hodges. "Wrestling with 'The Donald'" Anthropology News Vol. 58 Iss. 5 (2017) p. e208 - e213 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/adamhodges/78/