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Stickleyville, Virginia
CNN
—
Again within the late Nineteen Eighties, when Beau James began professional wrestling, the crowds got here for a present between good and evil, to see a narrative about heroes and villains, to benefit from the bouts after which go house.
James loved being the hero nevertheless it was nothing in comparison with taking part in the dangerous man.
“They launched me and the folks booed me for nearly two straight minutes. … It’s a excessive. … And I’ve been there in the identical state of affairs the place they love me – I don’t suppose it compares to the excessive of the hatred.”
Wrestlers construct a persona with a backstory so the viewers feels the stakes are excessive after they get punched within the face. Whereas they usually take themes from information and popular culture, they’re not often overtly political. However the 2016 presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton sparked an thought between James and wrestler Dan Harnsberger.
Collectively they developed “The Progressive Liberal” Dan Richards, usually the dangerous man on the matches within the Republican-voting mining cities of Appalachia and a few southern states. The Liberal would get a listening to and even some cheers as crowds watch the staged violence at an evening of professional wrestling.
Over the previous 5 years, nevertheless, that ambiance has turned far darker, James and Harnsberger mentioned this month.
After this month’s midterm elections introduced defeat for a lot of Trump-backed candidates, even some election deniers conceded their races. It instructed at the very least some had been prepared to maneuver previous Trump’s refusal to simply accept his 2020 loss and the mob of supporters he incited who violently stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
However within the mountain cities of Appalachia, that rhetoric has had an enduring impact, Harnsberger mentioned, even amongst followers who know wrestling is leisure.
“The group has taken on a extra violent method in direction of me,” mentioned Harnsberger, who performs the Progressive Liberal within the ring. “I had rocks thrown at me. A woman pulled out a lighter, tried to gentle my trunks on hearth whereas they’re on me. And had another person pull out a switchblade.”
A professional wrester lives or dies by the involvement of the gang, which is extra necessary even than the talents of these contained in the ring.
So when he noticed forests of Trump flags throughout West Virginia throughout the 2016 presidential election, James questioned how he might faucet in to that zeal – referred to as “warmth” in wrestling parlance.
“My God,” he remembers saying to a buddy. “If we had a man that was the anti-Trump, and we might ship him to the ring in these cities, how a lot warmth would we get?”
They tried sporting a Hillary Clinton flag within the ring, and bought a really robust response. The following weekend, James bumped into Harnsberger for the primary time shortly. They’d wrestled collectively years earlier. Individually, Harnsberger had been testing how his politics would play.
The 2 got here collectively to create and promote the Progressive Liberal. James helped Harnsberger sharpen his opinions into traces that may rile up the gang, and how you can tempo them – like when to say, “We’re coming on your weapons.”
And issues went effectively. They entertained. One time a fan flashed a 9mm handgun on his hip and advised Harnsberger to come back take it, James mentioned. Often Harnsberger would have half the gang on his aspect, like at a match within the Arkansas Ozarks.
When a sports activities web site seen Harnsberger’s gimmick in 2017, a wave of reporters, together with me, got here to see how his Hillary trunks had been taking part in within the counties that confirmed probably the most help for Trump.
“The warmth you need is the warmth the place individuals are upset at what you stand for … and so they wish to see you get your ass kicked,” Harnsberger mentioned.
That’s when crowds get invested and can watch you win or lose and are available again the following time.
In 2022, the Hillary trunks have been changed by a pair saying, “Driving with Biden.”
The Progressive Liberal remains to be the dangerous man, however Harnsberger and James mentioned the audiences have modified.
“The final 5 years, it’s simply bought out of hand,” James mentioned. Folks have change into extra annoyed, extra divided, he mentioned. And the Progressive Liberal provides an outlet for that built-up vitality.
“So, now right here’s this man in our city, saying these items that we see on tv that we don’t agree with. We will’t get these folks [on TV], we will’t get the politicians. Let’s get him,” James mentioned, describing the perspective.
“Dan will get to go and unleash what he believes, what he feels, his frustrations to an viewers that he’s upset [and] that they get to offer it proper again to him as a result of he’s the closest factor to what they’re mad at, that they will truly work together with,” he mentioned.
And whereas most politicians aren’t coming to those little cities, the Progressive Liberal does. “You’ll be able to cuss him. You’ll be able to boo him, you possibly can slap him, or attempt. You’ll be able to toss something at him. He’s proper there,” James mentioned.
Harnsberger is a liberal and James a conservative. They don’t agree a lot on politics and don’t speak about it exterior the ring, besides to work on their act.
“We’re full opposites,” James mentioned. “I’m a gun-owning, tobacco-chewing, Bible-believing mountain individual; Dan is just not. However Dan and I can get alongside. And if we’ve got arguments, we’ve got a luxurious that most individuals don’t have – we all know someplace within the subsequent few days, we’ll be within the ring collectively so we will simply punch the opposite one at the back of the top.”
However that’s stagecraft. And that’s not what’s been taking place with the viewers.
James lays down some guidelines to attempt to preserve the gang from turning ugly – there’s no criticism or banter in regards to the Bible or the opioid disaster in these cities.
However on a current night time in Stickleyville, Virginia, the place Trump’s share of the vote rose from an already overwhelming 78% in 2016 to 84% in 2020, it did flip ugly, and quick.
As Harnsberger tried to interact with the individuals who’d paid to observe, he was drowned out by boos.
Loads of that was anticipated. A person within the viewers, Alex Adkins, advised CNN the Progressive Liberal’s opinions wouldn’t go down effectively: “Everyone desires to punch him within the face!”
And a person with a Trump flag who didn’t wish to give his identify mentioned he needed to see Harnsberger overwhelmed up. “We love wrestling, initially,” he mentioned as to why he was there. “However to come back and present the liberal like, hey, we all know what we stand for. Yeah, and undoubtedly not the left aspect.”
When some within the viewers advised their neighbors to let Harnsberger communicate, it boiled over. Punches had been thrown. Somebody was hit with a chair.
“It bought past the purpose of warmth to it’s harmful,” James mentioned, explaining why they lower the bout brief.
Extra fights broke out and the brawling spilled into the parking zone.
As James and Harnsberger sat backstage, ready for it to be quiet sufficient to permit them to go away safely, they each agreed they may have dealt with the state of affairs higher.
However neither mentioned they created the issue.
“I feel if I had by no means existed they might really feel the identical factor,” Harnsberger mentioned. “However I’ve a singular capacity to deliver that response out of them after I’m in entrance of them since I’m right here.”
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