Kayfabe, Smartdom and Marking Out: Can Pro-Wrestling Help Us Understand Donald Trump?
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929920963827 |
| Author | David S Moon |
| Published date | 01 February 2022 |
| Date | 01 February 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929920963827
Political Studies Review
2022, Vol. 20(1) 47 –61
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929920963827
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Kayfabe, Smartdom and
Marking Out: Can Pro-
Wrestling Help Us Understand
Donald Trump?
David S Moon
Abstract
Donald Trump has enjoyed a nearly 30-year relationship with World Wrestling Entertainment as a
business partner, fan, in-ring performer and 2013 Hall of Fame Inductee. Noting this long running
involvement, it has become a widespread contention that Trump’s style as a political campaigner
owes a debt to his experiences within the world of professional wrestling. Taking such claims
seriously, this article argues that an engagement with concepts developed within professional
wrestling studies would benefit political studies by offering new analytical approaches for the study
of the political phenomenon that is Donald Trump. Providing a brief introduction to professional
wrestling studies, this article outlines how the concepts of kayfabe, smart fandom and marking out
help address a key question for political scholars: how to explain a cynical American electorate’s
engagement with and emotional investment in the campaign of such an obvious political fraudster.
Keywords
Donald Trump, professional wrestling, ideology, political campaigning, US President
Accepted: 16 September 2020
Introduction
Donald Trump is the first occupant of the Oval Office to also be an inductee into the
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)1 Hall of Fame, an honour bestowed upon him in
recognition of his nearly 30-year relationship with the company. The idea of ‘President
Donald Trump’ was itself floated during his Hall of Fame induction in 2013, when long-
time friend Vince McMahon, Chairman and CEO of the WWE, declared ‘second only to
me, Donald might very well be a great President of the United States’.2 A President with
an interest in professional wrestling (aka pro-wrestling) is nothing new; Richard Nixon,
Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush were all reportedly fans (Kelly and Wetherbee,
2016a: loc.65). Trump, however, is the only President to have hosted two WrestleManias
Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies, University of Bath, Bath, UK
Corresponding author:
David S Moon, Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies, University of Bath, Bath,
BA2 7AY, UK.
Email: d.s.moon@bath.ac.uk
963827PSW0010.1177/1478929920963827Political Studies ReviewMoon
research-article2020
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