MAGA in mourning after death of Hulk Hogan
'He entertained fans from all over the World, and the cultural impact he had was massive.'
Hogan, whose real name was Terry Gene Bollea, was a WWE megastar who helped take professional wrestling into the mainstream. He lost his contract with WWE after he reportedly used a racial slur in an unauthorized videotape. He subsequently apologized.
The wrestler took last year's RNC in Milwaukee by storm, ripping off both his blazer and shirt to reveal a red Trump-Vance tank top underneath and shouting out the virtues of 'Trumpmania' to raucous applause from the crowd.
Vice President JD Vance wrote on X that in a previous meeting, he'd promised Hogan that the pair would connect over beers whenever their paths next crossed.
'The next time will have to be on the other side, my friend!' he said. 'Rest in peace.'
Tributes poured in from all over Washington. White House border czar Tom Homan shared that he once had a 200-pound mastiff named Hulk Homan and House Speaker Mike Johnson shared condolences on X.
'We all have fond memories of @HulkHogan,' he wrote. 'From my childhood in the '80s, to campaigning with him last year, I always saw him as a giant in stature and in life. May he rest in peace.'
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Hogan, who lived in the state for many years, had been 'our superhero' when he was growing up.
'We were with him just a couple months ago, my kids got to meet him and everything,' DeSantis said. 'So, I was really sad to see that, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and people throughout this region of Florida, because I know so many people cared about him.'
Andrew Atterbury contributed to this report.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
20 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
European leaders to join Ukraine's Zelenskyy for White House meeting with Trump
KYIV (AP) — European and NATO leaders announced Sunday that they'll be joining President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington for crucial talks with President Donald Trump, rallying around the Ukrainian leader after his exclusion from Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The remarkable move — with one European leader after another announcing that they'll be at Zelenskyy's side when he travels to the White House on Monday — was an apparent effort to ensure that the meeting goes better than the last one in February, when Trump berated the Ukrainian president in a heated Oval Office encounter. 'The Europeans are very afraid of the Oval Office scene being repeated and so they want to support Mr. Zelenskyy to the hilt,' said retired French Gen. Dominique Trinquand, a former head of France's military mission at the United Nations. 'It's a power struggle and a position of strength that might work with Trump," he said in a phone interview. The European leaders' presence at Zelenskyy's side, demonstrating Europe's support for Ukraine, could potentially help ease concerns in Kyiv and in other European capitals that Ukraine risks being railroaded into a peace deal that Trump says he wants to broker with Russia. It wasn't immediately clear whether all or just some of them would be taking part in the actual meeting with Trump. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on X that she will take part in the talks, "at the request of President Zelenskyy.' The secretary-general of the NATO military alliance, Mark Rutte, will also take part in the meeting, his press service said. The office of President Emmanuel Macron announced that the French leader will travel on Monday to Washington 'at the side of President Zelenskyy' although it didn't immediately specify that he'll be in the meeting. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will also be part of the European group, but the statement from his office likewise didn't specify that he will be in the talks with Trump. The grouped trip underscored European leaders' determination to ensure that Europe has a voice in Trump's attempted peace-making, after the U.S. president's summit on Friday with Putin — to which Zelenskyy wasn't invited.
CNBC
21 minutes ago
- CNBC
Ukraine and allies left scrambling as Trump shifts toward Putin after Alaska summit
LONDON — Ukraine and its allies were scrambling Sunday to respond to President Donald Trump's apparent shift toward Vladimir Putin's hardline position after their summit in Alaska. European leaders announced that they would join Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington on Monday as they seek to navigate America's new approach to ending the war. Trump signaled Saturday that he was reversing his insistence on a ceasefire and instead pursuing a permanent peace deal — aligning the United States with the Kremlin rather than Kyiv and its European backers. As Ukraine and Europe work out how best to move forward, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von de Leyen, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that they would be joining Zelenskyy, perhaps hoping to ensure there is no repeat of his last Oval Office meeting. "The trip will serve as an exchange of information" with Trump, Merz' office said. "The talks will address, among other things, security guarantees, territorial issues, and continued support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression." The news came ahead of a virtual meeting of the so-called "coalition of the willing," which includes more than 30 countries working together to support Ukraine. While Trump's reversal on pursuing a ceasefire before fuller peace talks fueled alarm on the continent, he did appear to have taken a step toward another position more aligned with the wishes of Ukraine and Europe. Trump directly engaged with Zelenskyy and European leaders by phone early Saturday morning about the U.S. taking part in a potential NATO-like security guarantee for Ukraine as part of a deal with Russia, two senior administration officials and three sources familiar with the discussions told NBC News. "European and American security guarantees were discussed," one source familiar with the discussions said. "U.S. troops on the ground was not discussed or entertained by [Trump]." The security guarantees would be made in the scenario that Russia were to invade Ukraine, again, after a would-be peace deal, the sources said. The sources said that those protections, as discussed by the White House, would not include NATO membership — despite European leaders saying in a joint statement Saturday that Ukraine should be given the right to seek NATO membership. But it was clear that the summit had left Ukraine feeling uneasy. Zelenskyy warned that the Russian leader was complicating efforts to end the war by refusing to halt the brutal fighting before holding further talks. "Russia rebuffs numerous calls for a ceasefire and has not yet determined when it will stop the killing. This complicates the situation," Zelenskyy said in a post on X late Saturday. For civilians on the ground, still under Russian attack even as the diplomatic maneuvering played out, it was not just the substance but the optics of the Alaska talks that caused frustration. "I was hoping that the U.S. wouldn't roll out the red carpet to the enemy," Kyiv resident Natalya Lypei said Saturday. "How can you welcome a tyrant like this?"
New York Times
21 minutes ago
- New York Times
Ukraine Weighs Trump's Offer of Security Guarantees With Caution
Amid the setbacks for Ukraine from President Trump's meeting in Alaska with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, officials in Kyiv found one glimmer of hope. They seized on a U.S. proposal to include security guarantees for Ukraine, designed to deter future Russian aggression, in a potential peace deal. Mr. Trump conveyed the proposal to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in a call early Saturday after the meeting. It would enlist Kyiv's Western partners to guarantee Ukraine's defense against new Russian attacks, according to European leaders who participated in the call. 'The good news is that America is ready to participate in such security guarantees. It is not leaving it to the Europeans alone,' Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany said after the call. That marks a shift from Mr. Trump's earlier stance of avoiding any U.S. involvement in Ukraine's postwar security. Mr. Merz and other European leaders were set to meet virtually on Sunday afternoon to discuss the aftermath of the Alaska summit, including potential security guarantees. In a show of support for Ukraine, the chancellor and other European officials announced that they would join Mr. Zelensky when he meets with Mr. Trump on Monday in Washington. While the specifics of the U.S. proposal remain unclear, Mr. Trump said Mr. Putin agreed that Ukraine should have strong security guarantees after a settlement, though not under NATO, two senior European officials who were briefed on the call have said. American troops might participate, Mr. Trump told the Europeans. Should Mr. Trump's proposal come to fruition, it would mark a win for Ukraine, which has long sought postwar security guarantees to prevent a future Russian invasion, but has so far received little beyond vague commitments. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
