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PHILADELPHIA – It is a divide that is, if not as old as time, at least as old as the average American’s experience in high school: The wrestlers vs. the basketball players. And as President Donald Trump returns to Pennsylvania, keystone of his swing state sweep, it’s no surprise it is happening at the NCAA wrestling championship.
Like Eagles head coach Nick Siriani, Trump looked finished just a few years ago. But just as the Birds eventually held aloft the Lombardi Trophy, Trump returns to Philly in triumph.
The hotels and restaurants of Center City were full of wrestling families this week, and at the elite Division I level, the wrestlers, coaches, and even the dads, in most cases, looked like squat, solid, muscular types who you could break a cinder block on.
I joked with one of the coaches that in high school in Philly I played basketball and we all stayed away from the wrestlers, because, “once they get you on the ground, forget about it.” He assured me, “Yeah, it’s still like that.”
Saturday’s appearance at the finals of the grappling tournament is extremely smart politics from the White House. As with all of Trump’s regular appearances at combat sports events, Trump was guaranteed a yuge ovation, but this time in one of the bluest cities in America.
Now, a cynic might point out that most in attendance at the event are not from Philly, and that’s true. But on the other hand, Penn State blue and white was everywhere in town this week, as that university is the absolute powerhouse of the sport.
Columnist Salena Zito, who has forgotten more about non-Philly Pennsylvania than most people will ever know, put it this way in describing the usual scene at Bloomsburg High School, where now Sen. Dave McCormick was a star on the mat:
“Wrestling here is everything, and all you have to do is just try to go to a wrestling match here and try to find a place to stand, let alone to sit,” she said.
It’s true, Philly is known for the Big 5 basketball colleges, for Wilt Chamberlain and Temple’s match-up zone. But in the rest of the state, it is wrestling and football that are kings.
I was more careful than usual about bringing up politics. After all these families had spent thousands of dollars to come to Philly to talk about wrestling, not to appear on the “McLaughlin Group.” But when I did ask if they were excited the president was coming, everyone enthusiastically said yes.
“It’s really an honor for the boys,” one Iowa wrestling mom told me. There was no need to ask where anyone was from, it was emblazoned all over their clothing.
What I learned about wrestling at its highest level in those chats kind of explained why Trump is popular among the sport’s athletes and enthusiasts.
These wrestlers are arguably the best and hardest-working athletes in America. The ancient Greeks certainly would have thought so. Yet there is no professional draft day when they are plied with millions of dollars.
These guys are in the gym 15 times a day because they love it, even if they aren’t allowed to wear garbage bags to make weight anymore. And that is exactly the kind of hard work and dedication that many Trump voters see in the president.
Back in October, I wrote in these pages that Philadelphia was Kamala Harris’ Alamo, the one place where she could make a stand in a state she was clearly losing, even if the polling couldn’t quite see it.
Right now, it is hard to see how the hatred, and let’s be honest, it is mostly from the left, can be tamped down to allow Americans who love or hate Trump to hang out in peace and harmony.
She won the City of Brotherly Love because, as Nancy Pelosi once put it, a glass of water with a D after its name would win in Philly. But Harris didn’t win by nearly enough to make up for the heavy losses in the rest of the commonwealth.
Just as during the election, there is a strong divide between Trump-hating Philly and the rest of the state where he has strong support, and if anything, that divide is growing sharper and more pointed.
Until recently, the divide in America had separated those who thought Trump was effective, if a bit over the top, and those who worried he’d be an authoritarian.
Today, it is between people who think Trump is a great president, full stop, and those who truly believe he has already become a dictator. That is a far, far, greater gulf, and it explains the anger and violence we have increasingly seen.
Every once in a while in high school, there would be a party, or an event, and the wrestlers were there along with the ballets, and under the right circumstances, we could tolerate, or even enjoy each other’s company.
Right now, it is hard to see how the hatred, and let’s be honest, it is mostly from the left, can be tamped down to allow Americans who love or hate Trump to hang out in peace and harmony.
But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. After all, this old basketball guy had a great time with the wrestling crowd. Even if I was now and then, furtively checking March Madness brackets on my phone.
The post DAVID MARCUS: Trump makes triumphant return to Philly, where he pinned the Democrats appeared first on Fox News.
