FILE PHOTO: Hulk Hogan, professional entertainer and wrestler speaks during a rally for Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, in New York, U.S., October 27, 2024. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
On Thursday, July 24, professional wrestling star Terry Gene Bollea, a.k.a. Hulk Hogan, died of heart failure at the age of 71. Hogan's death came a year after Hogan's appearance at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where he gave GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump a passionate endorsement.
Salon's Chauncey DeVega examines Hogan's support of the MAGA movement in an article published on July 28, arguing that his alliance with Trump was a major disappointment to non-MAGA Americans who admired the wrestler during the 1980s.
"Trump and Hulk's alliance irrevocably stained the cherished memories many Americans of a certain age have of Hulkamania," DeVega writes. "If our hero Hulk Hogan, whose theme song proclaimed himself a 'Real American' willing to 'fight for the rights of every man,' could embrace a person like Donald Trump — a villain who believes himself to be the real victim — how lost, then, are we Americans as a country and a people?"
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DeVega adds, "This betrayal is at the heart of the boos and contempt many professional wrestling fans, and the larger public, came to feel toward Hulk. But the pairing makes perfect sense once you realize how much the two have in common."
The Salon journalist describes Trump and Hogan as "fabulists with a documented history of telling obvious lies and abusing the truth."
"Being 'real Americans' and 'patriots' is central to both of their brands and popularity," DeVega explains. "Hulk Hogan, Trump and MAGA all embody the same anti-intellectual, demagogic, juvenile, adolescent male power fantasy: that big muscles, sheer will and violence can fix everything."
DeVega continues, "To that point, Trump, at 79, routinely shares images of himself online as Superman, a heavyweight professional wrestling champion, a Sith Lord from the 'Star Wars' film universe, Sylvester Stallone's human war machine character 'Rambo,' a mafia boss and, of course, a professional wrestler…. Rest in peace and power, Hulkster. For better or worse, this is the world you helped to create, and we are living in it. "
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Chauncey DeVega's full Salon article is available at this link.