A National Wrestling Match

In [a 1957] essay, [French philosopher Roland] Barthes contrasts pro wrestling to boxing.

This public knows very well the distinction between wrestling and boxing; it knows that boxing is a Jansenist sport, based on a demonstration of excellence. One can bet on the outcome of a boxing-match: with wrestling, it would make no sense. A boxing- match is a story which is constructed before the eyes of the spectator; in wrestling, on the contrary, it is each moment which is intelligible, not the passage of time… The logical conclusion of the contest does not interest the wrestling-fan, while on the contrary a boxing-match always implies a science of the future. In other words, wrestling is a sum of spectacles, of which no single one is a function: each moment imposes the total knowledge of a passion which rises erect and alone, without ever extending to the crowning moment of a result.

  Think Progress

Not to mention, in professional wrestling, the outcome is pre-ordained, so the audience is in on and a part of the spectacle.  They know the thing is rigged.  They're there for the over-the-top action.

In the current campaign, Trump is behaving like a professional wrestler. [...] Trump is focused on each moment and eliciting the maximum amount of passion in that moment. His supporters love it.

[...]

The key to generating passion, Barthes notes, is to position yourself to deliver justice against evil forces by whatever means necessary.

[...]

Trump knows how to define his opponent — China, “illegals,” hedge fund managers — and pledges to go after them with unbridled aggression.

[...]

A wrestling fan is less interested in what is happening — or the coherence of how one event leads to the next — than the fact that something is happening. On that score, Trump delivers. He is omnipresent on TV. When he can’t make it in front of the camera, he’ll simply call in. When he’s not on TV, he’s tweeting boasts, insults, and non-sequiturs. When he runs out of things to tweet, he retweets random comments from his supporters.

And his American base is very like a pro wrestling audience.

[C]alling out Trump as an “entertainer,” rather than a legitimate candidate [...] is as effective to running into the middle of the ring during Wrestlemania and yelling: “This is all fake!” You are correct, but you will not be received well.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.