Trump Tweets from WrestleMania XXIII in 2007; Media Loses Mind

"He's going to get someone killed."

That was CNN contributor Ana Navarro's take on the fan-edited video of Donald Trump from WrestleMania (circa 2007), in which WWE head honcho Vince McMahon got clotheslined by The Donald in a guest appearance. In the edit, McMahon's face has been replaced by a CNN logo.

For the literal minded out there, this was a stunt. Also, there is no Mr. CNN running around out there with an animated CNN logo for a head. The guy in the Jack-in-the-Box commercials isn't real, either.

President Trump's tweet sparked outrage at CNN and other media outlets, which is pretty much a standard Sunday morning for the President. The International Business Times questioned whether the tweet violated Twitter's terms of service. (Twitter has ruled it did not.) Kenneth T. Walsh at U.S. News & World Report calls the tweet "bizarre". ("Covfefe" was bizarre; this is editorial cartooning from the government itself.) And Marina Fang at the Huffington Post called it a "fantasy about beating up journalists,", adding the video "seemed to endorse violence against journalists."

Being a journalist myself, I want to add that I'm very against violence toward journalists. I'm also, I like to think, smart enough to know that professional wrestling is about as "fake news" as it gets, and setting the sport up as a metaphor for what Trump and supporters have taken to calling #FakeNews, #FraudNews, and the one the shippers came up with, the "enemedia," seems to be a natural step for an editorial cartoon. Perhaps the President missed his calling? Instead of making billions of dollars and then going on to run the free world, he could have been making biting satirical comments for just under a hundred thousand a year?

Now, seeing professional wrestling as a metaphor isn't something I'm the first to come up with. Surprisingly enough, the target of the commentary, CNN, has said that pro wrestling is the perfect metaphor... for Donald Trump's presidency. This, in debating circles, is known as the classic "I'm rubber, you're glue" comeback. When followed by the sticking out of the tongue, it ranks as deadly as the "triple-dog dare." It also, perhaps, speaks a little bit about CNN's lack of self-awareness.

As for the video, the event itself told the story of Vince McMahon who, as a corporate controller, wanted to shut down Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was portrayed as the hero of the blue collar middle class. As McMahon taunted Austin, threatening him, Trump took him down.

I dunno, that might be another layer of metaphor that we're just too lazy to dig into.