“Pro wrestling culture” is spot-on and I’ve been saying the same thing since 2015.
Trump was essentially cutting extended wrestling promos at his rallies. And his rank and file acolytes received it like wrestling fans. I remember one article in which a CNN cameraman reported that the crowd jeered him throughout a rally but, afterward, several attendees approached him to say what a great job he was doing. It was like they thought the Trump’s whole attack on the media was just a WWE storyline and each side was just playing a role. I’ve seen the same exact behavior from fans at a live wrestling show. Which might explain why Trumpers are unbothered when confronted with evidence that Trump doesn’t truly believe what he says. That’s not jarring to them because they instinctively believe he’s just playing a role.
The problem occurs when and if fiction starts morphing into reality. That Trump might not believe, for example, that the media is the enemy of the people will be cold comfort if his crowd internalizes the fictional narrative and persecutes the media on his behalf.