America's heel turn

Trump and Vance turning on their "allies" is actually get some results - but at tremendous cost to America's reputation.

When I was a kid in the glorious eighties, the World Wrestling Federation (as I still call it) came to Memorial Stadium in St. John’s, Newfoundland. And the WWF (as I still call it) knew exactly how to build up the hype and get butts in seats.

During Maple Leaf Wrestling, the Saturday night wrestling show, several WWF stars were interviewed about their impending trip to The Rock. The “faces,” aka the “good” wrestlers, talked about how excited they were to wrestle in Newfoundland for the first time. The legendary George “The Animal” Steele said “URGH BLUGH BARGH BLUH.”

And then there was Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.

Heenan was the “manager” for many well-known wrestlers, all of whom were “heels,” aka bad guys. And Heenan himself was probably the defining heel of the Mulroney years.

So when his interviews got to wrestling in Newfoundland, Heenan made sure to attack “Newfies” as stupid, backwards, ignorant welfare bums. The response was overwhelmingly negative, to the point where people were se…