EIn March, I am reaching the NCAA Division I wrestling championship, which is a ritual that tied to the arrival of spring. It also reminds me of my sports role. I grew up in the rural Pennsylvania state and began wrestling when I was five years old, and continued to compete at the level of the first section in the college.
This year’s championship was a mandatory show. Carter Staruki became the first Pennsylvania state National hero for five timesWhite Hendrickson of Oklahoma State Olympic Champion, Jabal Stevson, amazed in the heavyweight final. Oh. Donald Trump was there. His joining Elon Musk, the former wrestler turned into a member of the Republican Congress in Ohio Jim Jordan, and other political allies.
Trump entered the Wales Fargo Center in Philadelphia into chants and chants of “the United States of America, the United States of America”. He appeared after Staruki demanded his fifth historic title, prompting ESPN to boycott Staroci interview and cut it to the president. While Trump was waving the crowd, I received a text from a former training partner – “Mastery, WTF”. I knew what he meant. I felt the same disappointment.
However, our feelings have not been shared by many wrestlers in the championship. Throughout the night, the athletes shook hands with the president, and they appeared with him for the pictures and let him carry their NCAA prizes, and lines similar to the obelisk that represents years of bloody sacrifice that does not need pressure. On his novel X, Tom Ryan, the main coach in Ohio, posted a picture of himself and Willon Musk, who was called “his favorite men.” Hendrickson celebrated his victory by giving a brave greeting towards Trump and wrapped the American flag over his huge shoulders.
Two days after the tournament, Staruki join Fox & Friends, and although his name was abused several times, he seemed happy with his presence. Hendrickson back Via video chat on the American news room, where it was called a Fox broadcaster, like many others, named “Captain America”. Both interviews focused on wrestling and Trump equally.
What do these athletes see in Trump? It is opposite to wrestler in almost everything. Although it has a strange habit in trying to control the handshake, he was never a serious athlete, Despite his pride. His privilege protects him from accountability throughout his life. Among the high -level wrestlers, personal accountability is the deep spiritual basic value. Most wrestlers never reach their sporting goals, regardless of their difficulty. I can bear witness that such failures are crushed. However, when it comes to losses, most wrestlers reject any form of excuse. Two years ago, in a match that is considered one of the college oaths at all, Matt Ramos of the Iowa star Bordeaux, Spencer Lee. He told me, who was wounded, in one of the Prestole interview“I saw people say that I was lost because I was hit … this is not true. I was beaten. I hate when people try to make excuses for me when I went out and beaten.” Trump has not yet brought his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential elections.
This paradox is not surprising. Many Trump fans voted for policies that will not benefit their lives. Their support depends on emotion, not logic. Through this lens, the incubation of the college’s wrestling from Trump is logical. Trump’s hostile relationship with the upper of ED is no less than anything when he and his allies say, “We love you, we are proud of you.”
For sport that routinely prompted the margins, this prominent support is great. Mitchell Mysenburneck from Pennsylvania He said If you put the policy aside, regardless of whether you are conservative or liberal … for the President of the United States to be in something we want to get people to watch … [is] Really, really great. “Nevertheless, tax money is rarely right. The faces of university wrestlersAnd which pictures were taken after the wrestlers came out of a mat. I was pleased until I read the suspension section on Facebook. With prose expression, people reduce these young people to stereotypes wandering in the joint. The phrase “poisonous masculinity” appeared several times.
Negative interest is not the new wrestling matter. Fifty years ago, there were more than 150 DI wrestling programs; As of 2025, There is 79. My alma Mater, Boston University, cut its program in 2014 to provide space for a man’s cure for men. For me, the urban school was refusing to wrestling with a sport linked to wealth as if it were the rejection of the original international, and on a wider scale, from the rural America.
Here lies the other thread that wrestles with Trump: while wrestling programs are at all levels in different parts of the country, wrestling is largely linked to rural America. The rural gap in urban areas has continued to widen since Trump entered the political scene for the first time. Several rural voters expressed their feelings of an insecurity – or if you see, from the political elite – if seen, by the political elite. Trump’s policies do not improve life for most of his rural voters – the exact opposite. However, for these voters, Trump says routinely, See you.
Democrats have struggled to find a language participating in rural America (direction of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Okasio Cortez trying to change). Likewise, many stumbled on the left when it comes to locating a fruitful language to discuss masculinity. Trump fills this void, hollow as it might have.
It took three requests for a request for admission to the MFA program fully funded. With the outbreak of rejection, I bent over stability. The admission letter eventually filled me with great joy like any victory on a mat. I asked my first night in the campus, a colleague of a Master of Business Administration, referring to my identity as a straight white man, “How do you feel it is part of the problem?” The question prevented a number of similar experiences. Phrases such as “toxic masculinity” and “Lit Bro” are swinging in my direction like the judge who strikes the mixture. In those moments, I wanted to turn into transparent – to hold my arms such as Da Vinci drawing, showing the tissue of the scar, damaging nerves and old surgeries and saying, He sees?
in Guest For the New York Times, David J. Morris regrets the scarcity of young people participating in reading and writing literature. It is noted that this reality is reflected in our national policy. He writes: “Young people who still show curiosity around the world,” often seeks intellectual motivation through the characters of “ManosPhere” such as Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan. “
Morris refers to a number of encouraging trends. Suicide rates increased among young people, while educational statistics continue to decline. Young people who display the “traditional” male qualities, such as physical strength and self -reliance, are classified by a culture that would make male weakness in a state of joke.. Last year, a Ticket Dr. Catherine Baker, Professor Deby Jing, and Dr. Maja Brandt Andreasen, revealed the disturbing extent recommended by the algorithms used by social media platforms, which were conducted at Dublin City University, to the disturbing extent recommended by the algorithms used by social media platforms. 2023 Ticket The Pew Research Center has found that young people reach financial landmarks at a slower rate of men than previous generations, while the numbers swing among women in the opposite direction.
Before the elections, Trump made pain to establish a bonding link between the economic problems of youth and progressive policy; His racist attacks and women on Kamala Harris feed in a prevailing feeling of anger and dissatisfaction. The paradox, of course, is that Trump has a long history of relying on migrant work and working class stiffness. On July 13, 2024, Trump’s life attempt at a gathering in Pennsylvania reinforced his harsh image. AP EVAN VCCI photographer took a Trump photo pumping his fist like a victorious athlete while the blood was dried from his ear. (Trump’s Temereity celebrations tend to ignore the fact that the audience member Corey Compatore was killed.) The president also has a strong relationship with UFC. Last Saturday, UFC 314 attended in Miami. For fighting fans, trading policies that stimulate chaos are trivial when Trump-like the Roman Emperor in Colosseum-between people to obtain a dose of heavy violence. Is it surprising that Trump has made great gains among young people from all backgrounds in the presidential elections for the past year?
Wrestling is difficult, and those who outperform them deserve to celebrate. It teaches young people how to hold themselves accountable and perseverance through difficult challenges – the skills that seem not available. Children are not the only beneficiaries. Girls’ wrestling is the fastest high school in America. While many characters of the “Manosphere” hero “MANOSPHERE” are fitness, mixing of fitness and toxic masculinity is a mistake. Wrestling, like any sport, has bad actors. However, no one is useful when those who promote comprehensiveness take it upon themselves to determine masculinity with narrow parameters that are ashamed of a large number of young people. Shame pushing these young people towards praise of the false, hypocrisy, and worse towards the extremism of “Manosphere”.
Trump’s wrestling world may be continuing our historical moment. How to positively re -launch young people is the question that America should wrestle with if it will be subjected to democracy from the jaws of defeat. The whistle was already detonated. The match is ongoing.