In an exclusive interview, Jesse Ventura takes us through his journey as an antiwar advocate, a pro wrestler, and a famously successful third-party candidate for Governor of Minnesota. Ventura is known as a major, widely renowned wrestler, and he explains how wrestlers like him brought significant attention to Saturday night wrestling. But as we know from his legacy as an organizer within the wrestling community, Ventura brought attention to the unfair contracts and compensation that he and his fellow wrestlers received. He’s carried this spirit of class struggle with him into his advocacy against war, where he brought attention to the draft as a method of exploiting young working-class people to the benefit of the wealthy.
Our conversation with Ventura captures his unique experiences organizing his pro wrestling colleagues, formulating a politics against violence and exploitation, and creating a viable path to third-party victory in his home state of Minnesota. We hope you enjoy the discussion. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more. If you’d like to support our work, which will always be available to you ad-free and for just $5 a month, we invite you to become a paying subscriber and get your episodes one day early. Take care and see you next week for more.
Episode 85 Audio: Jesse Ventura