Donald Trump’s return to power marks a historic political shift for the US. While unusual, this development evokes Italy’s political history, more particularly the trajectory of Silvio Berlusconi (1936-2023). Victorious in the Italian parliamentary elections of 1994 before being defeated in 1996 and again in 2006, Berlusconi then returned to power in 2001 and 2008.
At first glance, the comparison seems incongruous. How can one compare a middle power with the world’s leading power, two opposing political and institutional systems, two economies, societies, histories, and vastly different international, economic, and political contexts? Yet this parallel between Trump and Berlusconi was first drawn in 2016, with the Italian seen as the American’s precursor.
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There are indeed striking similarities between these two emblematic figures of the populist phenomenon that has shaken our democracies since the end of the 20th century. As economic and social crises and widespread political disaffection rocked their respective countries, these two billionaires – who had made their fortunes in real estate and the media – entered politics, one in 1994, the other almost 20 years later, with the same determination to shake things up. Both controversial figures, particularly in their relations with women, proved exceptional TV communicators – and, in Trump’s case, later on social media. Both championed economic liberalism while displaying their own brands of eccentricity. Viewing politics as mere managerial efficiency, they both claimed to replace traditional mediation, such as parties and interest groups. They positioned themselves as new, providential figures who would solve all their citizens’ problems with a magic wand, and ensure them a bright future.
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The ‘Latin lover’ and the ‘cowboy’
To seize power, both allied with the far-right. In Italy, in the name of anti-antifascism, Berlusconi legitimized and normalized the neo-fascists while shepherding their evolution into a right-wing formation. In the US, Trump aligned himself with the most radical positions. Both practiced excessive personalization and mediatization of public life, using simple language and continuously mobilizing their followers, showing little concern for judicial sentences handed down to their leaders.
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Both men cast themselves as victims of persecution, multiple conspiracies, and threats, including physical threats in the case of Trump. The theatrical display of their professional success serves to suggest that, like them and thanks to them, success and happiness are within everyone’s reach. While claiming to be attuned to people’s everyday material concerns, they simultaneously view themselves as invested with a mission to serve the greater good. As a result, they attach great importance to their appearance and proudly exhibit forms of machismo aligned with their national cultures: the Latin lover for Berlusconi, the 21st -century cowboy for Trump.
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