In this episode, Jay Shapiro opens with a fast essay on kayfabe, heels and faces, and why the ring is the best way to read the national psyche. He looks at Trump’s WWE arcs, from Battle of the Billionaires to the “I bought Raw” storyline, and how that performance grammar ported into real politics. Then Jay Shapiro speaks with Paul Jay about the theater of power, the post-9/11 security state, nuclear policy, and why the official script keeps breaking.