“The Progressive Liberal Daniel Richards” is fighting on Friday ― and it isn’t in the political arena.
He’s a pro wrestling villain gone viral, and he’ll gladly rub his lefty views in the face of his opponents and the Donald Trump-loving spectators who watch him compete in the Kentucky-based Appalachian Mountain Wrestling.
His real name is Daniel Harnsberger, a 36-year-old real estate agent from Richmond, Virginia, who moonlights on the mat as a smug Democrat in need of a beatdown.
Wearing a Hillary Clinton T-shirt, he told viewers in a recent match promo (below), “You people need to be reprogrammed. You continually vote against your own interests.” He added, “We’re going to help you get jobs with clean energy.”
Oh, he knows how to get under the fans’ skin. “You know what, I think Bernie Sanders would make a great Secretary of State,” Richards said before a match, per Deadspin ” He later declared, “I want to exchange your bullets for bullet points. Bullet points of knowledge.”
A guy like that is going to get his comeuppance in a red state ring. Check out the 14:25 mark here:
The Progressive Liberal told Sports Illustrated he began developing his character when Donald Trump emerged as a presidential contender. He was working a small show in West Virginia and mocked fans by telling them he wished Trump would build a wall around them instead of Mexico so they couldn’t “infiltrate the population.”
“The ire that statement got, I knew I was onto something. Even then, those fans were chanting, “Trump! Trump! Trump!” Harnsberger said.
He’s glad to rile up the crowds because his wrestling persona isn’t much of a stretch.
“I do lean far left,” he told S.I.. “So it’s not like I’m pretending to be something I’m not. I’m just turning it up.”
Some attendees at his matches wear Trump masks, Deadspin noted. But Harnsberger says bring it on.
Democrats, he said, should “be as ballsy and unapologetic about their beliefs as the Republicans are about theirs.”
On Friday, the Progressive Liberal will once again put his reputation where his mouth is when he squares off against Kyle Maggard in Campton, Kentucky.
Perhaps this time he’ll be able to deploy his signature move, “the liberal agenda.”