What Hulk Hogan taught Trump about politics
5/21/202644 min
Before he was ever taken seriously as a politician, Donald Trump was very much taken seriously in the world of wrestling.
His relationship with WWE stretches back as far as the 1980s - he went on to headline Wrestlemania and even challenged founder Vince McMahon to a match during a running feud.
But what if wrestling was where Trump learned how to win the White House? Reality-defying performances, smack talk, and stunts are, after all, quintessentially Trumpian techniques.
Munya Chawawa thinks that Trump's origin story in politics might start in the ring - and came into the studio to discuss why.
Later, it was announced today that net migration has fallen by almost half, to its lowest level since the Covid pandemic. But will Keir Starmer be able to claim any credit for it?
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsLewis Goodall· Host0:01
[upbeat music] This is a Global Player original podcast.
Emily Maitlis· Host0:05
Made this connection between what we see in the wrestling world- If you smell what The Rock is cooking ... and how that has formed Trump, right, publicly, his image.
Munya Chawawa· Guest0:17
When you're creating a character, what you wanna do is you wanna, you wanna create a character so distinguishable that you could recognize them from their silhouette. You know, Trump has a silhouette.
Lewis Goodall· Host0:26
Mm.
Munya Chawawa· Guest0:26
You know Trump from the quiff, from the weird T-Rex hands, and the jerking off of imaginary ghosts when he's dancing. [laughs] You know, that is a level.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:34
[laughs] Why are you here? Let me put it very simply, Vince. I'm taller than you. [laughs] I'm better looking than you.
Lewis Goodall· Host0:46
Oh.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:46
[laughs] I think, I think I'm stronger than you.
Lewis Goodall· Host0:52
Wow.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:53
[laughs] And I'm here to challenge you to a match in WrestleMania.
Lewis Goodall· Host1:02
What?
Emily Maitlis· Host1:03
That is Donald Trump speaking to Vince McMahon at the WWE in 2007, a full decade before he became president. He is telling a fantasy, a story, to the wrestling crowd there that he has now managed to tell to America.
Lewis Goodall· Host1:22
We spend a lot of time thinking about how Trump thinks what he thinks. What if