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Page added on November 10, 2016
Trump, Berlusconi, and the Blob
Watching the news about the presidential race in the US from Italy gives you an eerie sensation of familiarity. This Donald Trump, he looks so much like…. yes, so much like a new incarnation of the concept of the billionaire turned politician: Silvio Berlusconi.
If you haven’t lived in Italy during the past 20 years, it is hard for you to understand how much the figure of Silvio Berlusconi has permeated Italian politics and culture. When Berlusconi started his political career, in 1994, it would have appeared utterly impossible that a billionaire and a womanizer would dominate Italian politics so much and for such a long time. Berlusconi was not a nice guy, never tried even to look like one. He was by no means the kind of figure that had traditionally attracted votes. He didn’t have a party behind him; no clear ideals, no political ideology, no detailed economics program, nothing like that. Yet, he was successful and the only reason why by now he is not in active politics any more is because of his age (he’ll be soon turning 80).
How did Berlusconi manage to be so successful? We can summarize his strategy in a few points:
1. Exaggerated promises; such as “a million new jobs,” or, “lower taxes for everyone”.
2. Demonization of enemies: reds, gypsies, immigrants; these ethnic or political groups were continuously under attack, accused to be the origin of all troubles.
3. Continuous media presence. Berlusconi was a true genius in how to obtain media coverage, and not just because he owned a major media group. He obtained attention by all sorts of reckless behavior and outrageous declarations. Berlusconi’s sexual exploits are well known and, among his most outrageous declarations, he compared himself to Jesus Christ, and he said that those who didn’t vote for him were idiots.
This combination worked wonders: Berlusconi’s electoral pool was, as he himself said, with “people at the level of the second year of junior high school.” He ruthlessly exploited their increasing economic difficulties; many people really believed in his promises, failing to notice that they consistently failed to materialize. He played on their desperation, funneling their rage against minority groups. He dazzled them with his flamboyant lifestyle: many people seemed to believe that if they voted for him, they could become like him, and have money, glamor and women.
Berlusconi’s opponents never understood that mounting their campaigns against him, they were working for him, helping him gaining even more media attention. Over and over they underestimated him, considering him just a fad, soon destined to disappear, only to find him bouncing back, stronger than before. He became a true political blob, absorbing everything thrown at him and transforming it into consensus and votes.
Today, we can recognize the same tactics being used in the US by Donald Trump, another billionaire turned politician. Like Berlusconi, he makes the same kind of exaggerated promises (“make America great again”), he demonizes minorities (Latinos, Moslems, Blacks…) and he is a master in getting media attention by is outrageous declarations.
So, we are seeing the birth of another political blob: like Berlusconi, also Trump seems to be able to absorb everything thrown at him and turn it into consensus. And his opponents seem to be failing into the same trap that Berlusconi created for his opponents. They don’t realize that by mounting their campaigns against Trump, they are working for him, helping him to gain even more notoriety.
So, what’s going to happen? Is Donald Trump destined to shape American politics for a couple of decades, as Berlusconi did in Italy? Of course, it is impossible to say with any certainty and it is true that there are differences; for instance, Trump doesn’t own a large media group, as Berlusconi did. Trump is also starting his political career at nearly 70, about ten years older than when Berlusconi did the same. So, there is a chance that Trump will be less successful than Berlusconi.
However, we are clearly seeing a problem with democracy. When times are tough and life becomes difficult, many people tend to blame someone – typically a different ethnic or political group, and to become desperate enough to believe in the promises of the current would-be savior of the country. It is enough, often, to send him to power. It has happened many times in the past, and the results have never been good.
Cassandra’s legacy by Ugo Bardi
7 Comments on "Trump, Berlusconi, and the Blob"
Sissyfuss on Thu, 10th Nov 2016 1:21 pm
Better that Trump turns into a Berlusconi than a Hitler.
Davy on Thu, 10th Nov 2016 2:04 pm
Trump does not fit a mold. I imagine the candidate and the leader are going to be very different in the respect of fantasy vs reality. He is getting a taste of reality now. Trump is not going to make America great again becuase no one can. It is a game of moving the chairs around. If he succeeds in an alignment with this reality then we may see a successful president. We are ever so close to a recession and that is what will define his administration. We need a non-politician at this moment becuase we need a different decision making process. He will be a good president if everyone thinks he is a failure because at this point it is only by pleasing no one do you align with the reality of a collapsing global world.
Anonymous on Thu, 10th Nov 2016 11:04 pm
Really? The trump-as-fascist\hitler? is a fiction created by the neo-liberals backing shillary. The idea he is some sort of closet nationalist socialist, cross-burning mussolini-wannabe never jived with we know of him from the past. Hes been in public eye for decades, hardly a marginal figure. It took the Jew York times, and the rest of the uS infotainment sphere 30 years to figure out he was a closet fascist?
Who knew? apparently no-one in the entirely of the uS had noticed his goose-stepping tendencies, well, at least not until he started to be a real threat to what was supposed to be, sure-thing killary.
How did he manage to hide it in plain view for so long?, especially with geniuses at 60 minutes, CNN, the wall st, urinal, and every ‘liberal’ in hollywood being aware of his every move….
Donno…
makati1 on Thu, 10th Nov 2016 11:49 pm
Trump has the world waiting with bated breath to see what is going to happen. I saw an article that Hillary s going to try to challenge the Electoral College vote. A young liberal friend of mine went into hysterics when it was announced that he beat out the hag. I could hardly contain my laughter. We shall see. We shall see.
Theedrich on Fri, 11th Nov 2016 3:25 am
Even now the MSM will not expose HRC. She murdered tens of thousands of Libyans in order to “free” them from Gaddafi, then exulted gleefully about him, “We came, we saw, he died.” She had her underlings tell our military not to protect our ambassador in Libya and, effectively, to let him and his men die. Following that “success,” she pushed for a achieved the current “civil war” in Syria.
Mass murder means nothing to the left, just so long as it redounds to their own greater honor and glory. Thus they focus on irrelevancies such as decade-old locker-room talk and baseless accusations of all sorts (preferably involving sex) in order to screen Clinton’s bloodlust from the public. Even when she talks so glibly about nuking 80 million people in Iran to “defend” Yidland, thereby detonating World War Three, the controlled media skips over it with the briefest of mentions.
And now Georg Sörös’s MoveOn.org, the Stalinist socialists and the nihilist left are endeavoring to generate anti-Trump turmoil in our larger cities in order to create a nationwide atmosphere of violent hatred which will intimidate the next administration. Their first assault, the Clintonian candidacy, failed. So now they are availing themselves of more direct means, seeking to inspire as many homicidal maniacs as they can find. Their motto: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
Theedrich on Fri, 11th Nov 2016 3:29 am
Correction at end of first paragraph: should read “…pushed for and achieved …”
Sissyfuss on Fri, 11th Nov 2016 8:46 am
Anon, what he morphs into will be interesting in the Chinese sense but with his massive ego, lack of intellectual discipline, and lust for attentio, I believe that the trappings and rewards of the Presidency will turn him into the perfect tool for the enablement of collapse. And Hellary would have fit the bill as well. Where’s Maks popcorn, my schadenfreude grows hungry.