From the first time I saw
him on stage during a presidential debate, I was struck by the way Donald Trump
carried himself. There was something
about his demeanor that reminded me of another political figure. Soon enough, I realized it was Benito
Mussolini.
Trump thrust his chin
forward just as the fascist dictator once did.
And when he was under pressure, he bobbed his head in the same way. It was as if I were looking at a reincarnation
of this long gone demagogue.
The more I contemplated this
coincidence, the more I realized that there were other parallels between the
two men. Not just the way they looked,
but the way they operated had much in common.
Both were bombastic rabble-rousers who promised to save their nations.
Today we think of Mussolini
as a slightly comic figure, but at the beginning of his political career he was
widely admired. Indeed, Cole Porter,
when he wrote the song You’re the Top, included him right up there with
the Eifel Tower and the Louvre museum.
Mussolini came to power a
few years after the end of the First World War.
Although on the winning side of that conflict, Italians were
disappointed by how poorly they were compensated in the Versailles Treaty. They were also in the midst of an economic
recession that did not square with their victory.
Now in a surly mood, the
public sought a savior. They were
looking for a strong leader who could pull them out of this quagmire. Then along came Mussolini, a journalist, who
used his media position to offer promises of salvation. Fascism would bring the nation together and
lift it to dazzling heights.
Mussolini would revive the
Roman Empire. He would make the trains
run on time and drain the Pontine Marshes.
Unlike like the feckless politicians who could not seem to agree on
anything, he would be a strong man who kept his pledges. Not only did he sound powerful, he would be
powerful.
And so tens of thousands of
Italians took up the cause. As Black
Shirts, they marched on Rome to install Benito as their nation’s leader. He would be Il Duce, the man on the white
horse who knew how to get things done.
Does this sound
familiar? Isn’t Donald Trump an
American-style redux of this scenario?
Isn’t he also an outsider who uses his media prominence to assure a
disgruntled people that he will save them from bungling politicians? Doesn’t he too pose as someone so strong that
he can deliver on what he says?
Benito Trump is not a
fascist. He is not contemplating a
coup. If he becomes president, it will
be via the ballot box and not a march on Washington. Yet he too is leading battalions of
ill-informed zealots to initiate changes the depth of which they do not understand.
Trump is a charlatan. His bluster is not backed up by knowledge or
competence. Donald is a real estate
developer. He puts up buildings. His much vaunted negotiation skills have
nothing to do with enacting legislation or coming to terms with foreign heads
of state.
This is a vulgar man whose
ignorance of governmental issues is matched only by his disinterest in
learning. A man totally bereft of
intellectual curiosity, he assumes that he will make good choices because he
has “common sense.”
Yet where did Mussolini’s
common touch get him? Yes, he made the
trains run on time. But he also invaded
Ethiopia and Albania. And then when his
troops ran into trouble in Greece, he had to be bailed out by his ally Adolf
Hitler. Benito might have sounded like a
conquering general, but he was nothing of the sort.
Nor is Benito Trump. Of course, he is not a despot. His is not going to open any concentration
camps. But he does have fascistic
impulses. After all, he is the “boss,”
who now wants to be the boss of all of us.
In other words, our Il Duce.
Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.
Professor of
Sociology
Kennesaw State University
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