George Foreman, the boxing great who passed away at the age of 76 on Friday, was much more than just a magnificently accomplished athlete, although he was certainly that: not only was a two-time heavyweight champion, but he was one of the most fearsome boxers of his day, and set a remarkable record that is unlikely to be surpassed anytime soon when he became, at age 45, the oldest man ever to hold the championship. Amid all that, however, he also became a significant cultural figure who personified a great deal of what is best about America, and who in many ways was even a precursor to Donald Trump.
Foreman was two and a half years younger than Trump, and they were both wildly famous at roughly the same time, although by the nature of their respective professions, Foreman’s career started earlier than Trump’s, and Trump’s has continued while Foreman enjoyed a comfortable retirement. In that retirement, Foreman in many ways pioneered the kind of cultural figure that Trump has become.
Foreman started out fearsome and ended up cuddly. Way back in his prime, Joe Frazier, who was at that time the heavyweight boxing champion, appeared on the Johnny Carson show and took Johnny through some of what it meant to train for a heavyweight title match. After some showing off and a few comic bits about fighting Carson, Frazier and Carson sat down for a chat, during which Smokin’ Joe was relaxed and comfortable until Johnny asked him about his upcoming bout with Foreman; then Frazier suddenly became nervous and hesitant. And with good reason: Foreman knocked out Frazier in the second round and took his title.
In those days, Foreman was every bit as scary as Frazier’s demeanor with Carson after George was mentioned suggested. After Muhammad Ali beat him the following year in Zaire in the course of building his own legend, his fearsome reputation necessarily diminished, but Foreman remained a solemn, scowling, forbidding figure.
After a Christian awakening, however, everything changed for Foreman. He became approachable, affable, and even charming. He put on a lot of weight, softening his features. He became a preacher, and then solidified his own place in history by returning to boxing as a happy warrior and improbably regaining the title. Then he went on to a happy post-boxing career as an entrepreneur, becoming the lovable older fellow who cheerfully pitched George Foreman Grills on TV.
Now, Donald Trump is in many ways cut from the same cloth as George Foreman. Trump was beaten once, and as in Foreman’s case in the Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire in 1974, it was under odd circumstances. Foreman maintained that Ali’s trainer had loosened the ropes of the ring, making Ali’s Rope-a-Dope strategy easier to execute, and even that his water had been drugged. And like Foreman, Trump fought back against all the odds and regained the title.
Trump is also, like Foreman, a happy warrior. The leftist media constantly strives to portray the president and his supporters as angry, hateful people, but anyone who takes the time to watch a Trump rally, any Trump rally, will immediately see how false that claim is. Trump, like Foreman after the initial part of his career, is the amiable entrepreneur, the happy warrior, the indomitable spirit who keeps going through all the setbacks and ultimately comes out on top.
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George Foreman was born in Texas at a time when segregation and institutionalized racism were real. He lived to see America make itself great again, and he personified the paradoxes and the possibilities of the land by maturing from a criminal youth (he was a mugger in his teens) into a respected and successful businessman. He embodied what Trump sees that America can be for all of us, and what Trump is working to restore in our nation.
George Foreman’s entire career and life trajectory represents the promise of America, a promise that leftist authoritarians have done their best to strangle under a crushing weight of government interference, unnecessary regulations, and enforced and institutionalized victimhood status. George Foreman was, like Donald Trump, a man who determined to do what was right, and strove hard to accomplish his goals in a land that made their accomplishment possible. He was greatly loved with good reason, and will be greatly missed.
