WWE News: ‘SmackDown Live’ Superstar Defends Trump’s Response To Charlottesville
When it comes to the topic of politics, few WWE Superstars are more vocal than Dolph Ziggler. Some have accused him of being biased toward U.S. President Donald Trump, and while he has not outright admitted to supporting the president, many feel Ziggler was defending how he reacted to the past weekend’s racial unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia.
According to Wrestling Inc., Ziggler appeared on the Thursday episode of The Tom Shillue Show, where he was joined by Fox News mainstays Kennedy and Jimmy Failla. With Failla filling in for Shillue, the panel of three discussed the recent Barcelona tragedy, as well as President Trump’s much-criticized response to the past weekend’s rallies at Charlottesville, where a young man named James Fields Jr. allegedly plowed his car through a group of people, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring several others.
While all three panelists were in agreement that the president didn’t offer the best possible response to the incident, Dolph Ziggler opined that Trump might have gotten even more criticism if he singled out white supremacists or neo-Nazis, as people might have thought he was “giving them a wink.”
Below is a transcript of Ziggler’s comments from yesterday’s Tom Shillue Show, as quoted by WrestleZone.
“I think had this been – obviously huge, a ridiculous tragedy happened – had he said minutes later, ‘This is garbage. This will not be tolerated.’ Called out Nazis, White Supremacists, period, that’s it. The next day, everyone would be like, ‘Uh, well, he’s calling them out now. They got him elected, but, he’s giving a little wink and just wanted to let this slide.’ I see it too much.”
Dolph Ziggler Shares His Thoughts on Donald Trump's Delayed Reaction of the Charlottesville Violence https://t.co/avdzNYphBP pic.twitter.com/RG1l4N4Riw
— WrestleZone (@WRESTLEZONEcom) August 18, 2017
Dolph Ziggler’s seeming defense of Trump’s statement on Charlottesville does not come without precedent. Last November, Ziggler and WWE veteran Kane both appeared on Kennedy’s eponymous Fox Business Network show, where they both criticized anti-Trump protesters in the aftermath of his victory in the 2016 presidential elections. Ziggler has also been very outspoken on social media, as noted by Wrestling Inc. in December, arguing with Trump detractors on Twitter in the run-up to his swearing in as the 45th president of the United States.
Additionally, Dolph told Kennedy in March 2016 that he felt Trump would be a potentially good choice for U.S. president, citing the few times he appeared on WWE programming and worked alongside the company’s wrestlers as an on-air authority figure.
“He has been to a couple different WrestleManias with us and I have actually seen him on RAW when he kind of took over as our boss for the day and thought he was a pretty good boss.”
Dolph Ziggler DefendsDonald Trump, New WWE Network Collections, Roadblock Note https://t.co/3XKe4uoxkP (#ICYMI) pic.twitter.com/GonayLG04t
— SEScoops (@sescoops) December 10, 2016
Fox Sports also noted that Dolph Ziggler compared Trump to Adam Sandler’s film character Happy Gilmore, citing how the would-be U.S. president used “different tactics” as compared to other presidential hopefuls at the time.
Do you agree with Dolph Ziggler’s perceived defense of Donald Trump’s statement on the Charlottesville violence?
[Featured Image by WWE]
