Although it is tempting to compare Trump to Mussolini given the similarity of their facial mugging, shoulder-shrugging, and histrionic hand gestures—not to speak of the obscurantist and deeply reactionary ideology—I find it much more useful to see him as aspiring version of Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi. Like Berlusconi, Trump is another master of televised demagogy. And also like Berlusconi, he exploits the backwardness of the average boob tube addict who tends to think in the sort of crude terms we associate with reality TV programs like Trump’s “The Apprentice”. Finally, despite the toxic quality of Trump’s speeches and off the cuff comments, there is about as much of a threat to bourgeois democracy as there was in Italy in the nearly ten years of Berlusconi’s misrule for the simple reason that the ruling classes of both countries would much prefer to rule through the illusion of freedom rather than the risky use of truncheons and dictatorship.
The connection between Trump and Berlusconi has been made by others but not always with complete understanding. For example, Robert Kuttner saw Trump as another Berlusconi but also another Hitler in Huffington Post. He accurately notes that both Trump and Berlusconi tried to leapfrog over traditional political parties in their bid to appeal directly to the “people” using their own considerable fortunes but sees Trump’s business about making America great again as a page torn from Mein Kampf In actuality, every president since Reagan has used this kind of demagogy in the face of a declining economic situation even though Trump tends to do it without bothering to explain how. When he says “we will take their oil” or “we will send the Mexicans back”, these are more in line with empty threats we associate with shows like “Housewives of New Jersey” rather than Heritage Foundation White Papers. full: https://louisproyect.org/2016/03/06/who-is-the-italian-pol-trump-most-resembles-hint-it-is-not-mussolini/ _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
