Heel Turn

 As my friends will testify, one of my biggest talking points over the last few decades has been the merging, at least in the popular imagination, of politics and professional wrestling (although, considering that Linda McMahon serves in the Trump administration, I guess it's a lot more than mere metaphor). I think I noted all the way back in the 80s during the Reagan years, where you didn't know whether you were watching a GOP event or a Hulk Hogan match. To me, the most glaring and idiotic example was the chanting of "USA! USA!" at both. We've identified the foreign bad guy, usually a Muslim or some easily identifiable Middle Easterner (Iron Sheikh, anyone?), to which the witless crowd starts changing "USA! USA!" as part of cult-like uniform devotion. It's so clear now, with Ilhan Omar playing the role nicely for the xenophobic, misogynistic, racist cult-members: woman, check; woman of color, check; Muslim; check; immigrant, check - and mate. And this is no doubt why I found it so troubling that the Democrats in their last Convention started the dreadful "USA! USA!" chant, whereas they would (and we would have) been much better served by initiating a New Deal or Great Society program for this generation.

The other side of the unholy wrestling and politics merger - and what we're seeing in real time - is the classic Heel Turn. As fans of professional wrestling know, one of the standard tropes of the professional is the Heel Turn, where the good guy (Face) transitions into a bad guy (Heel) in some very public act of betrayal. One of Ric Flair's great talents was his ability to exist in that liminal space between the two worlds, Heel and Face, and slide back and forth between them. It's a skill, as anyone who saw John Cena's painful failed attempt at a Heel Turn can tell you. And this is where the misogyny that rests at the heart of professional wrestling becomes very apparent, as the Heel Turn is often made official by some act of violence, either physical or emotional, against a woman. And this brings us back to Ilhan Omar, because it's not simply that she's a person of color or a Muslim or an immigrant - it's also that she's a woman. 

Right now the US is in the midst of an extraordinary (and extraordinarily painful) Heel Turn, as the current administration and its Republican Senate and House enablers, turn their back on decades of domestic and international promises. When people, commenting on these Trumpian crimes, will point out, "The cruelty is the point," they're more accurate than they know. The cruelty and double-dealing lies at the heart of the Heel Turn. When commentators question why common Americans don't respond more passionately in opposition to this burgeoning Fascist state, they're essentially missing the point - and not simply because way too many of our fellow Americans are borderline sadists. Instead, these folks are existing (sort of) in the fantasy world that they've grown up watching in the wrestling world, and they've merely transferred it to the political (which was the dream of its architects in the first place). If you can't tell the difference - or don't care to tell the difference - between professional wrestling and real sport, then AI has some political material for you to consume. In professional wrestling the Hell Turn is never permanent, as the performer simply turns back to a Heel later. However, as we're discovering to our horror, in politics sometimes you don't the Heel Turn is permanent.