A Page out of the Populist’s Playbook
When travelling through The Netherlands this winter people kept asking me ‘why is Trump president? Who would vote for him? Without looking at his political direction, or even his character, it is surprising that a total outsider would win such an election. According to Pew most European countries are not excited about this Trump Presidency. “No other country in the European Union, according to the Pew Research Center, is so passionate about Mr. Trump.” And there is a reason for that[1]
What was more blinding the bleached front row teeth of the man in the spotlights or the spotlights themselves? What was thinner the hair slicked to one side or the wife he had glued to him? And what was scarier the media he was arguing against or the message that he spoke to crowds?
I wonder what we’d see looking into the head of a man that had it all. A man that was so rich he didn’t need anything and yet acted like a starved lion when given the opportunity for money or power. This man was able to do what many people had tried to do before them. However he was successful, they became the symbol of change. People that were fed up with the political system, tired of the many taxes and yearning for someone that wasn’t afraid to look for a fight, either with words, fists or policies. I wonder what we would see looking into the man of all men, a person people had chosen to follow.
A person that had made his fortune in real estate and had surfed the edges of politics for many years. He had worked his way up, married several times and seemed just as comfortable in front of a camera lens as he did in a business board room. His family is a jig-saw puzzle of different wives and kids, and he played the media like a toy car.
People were either an enemy or a friend. People were either fought against or he fought for them. After circling the political arena for several years he plunged right into the middle of it with a brilliant tactic. He was a great gladiator, but instead of fighting the opponent he sought the favor of the crowds; giving them something to be afraid of. His rhetoric was a rapid fire of fighting words and stinging phrases. This man went from being the play boy of the country to the terror of a continent and people on the other side of the pond were in shock that people had elected him as their leader.
Sound familiar? Although it might sound like the person whose sharp remarks and loud personality cover our newspapers and TV screens each morning it is not. It is a description of the “Savior of Italy,” it is a description of Silvio Berlusconi. In the past 20 years Europe sat under the rising, shining, and setting sun of this modern Roman Emperor.[2] He came to power in a similar way and filled a similar vacuum that Trump is seeking to fill. But more importantly he in a similar way places an emphasis on accomplishments over competency and rhetoric over character.
If Berlusconi is a prefigure of Trump than our new president will need to avoid similar mistakes made. Leadership is not done on the campaign trail, it is done behind a desk, at a board meeting and face to face with people that can help make a difference. And although bleached teeth, a beautiful wife and a common enemy will help on the road to the White House the destination almost requires a new set of skills, as Italy found out.
The communist are coming! This was Berlusconi’s tagline. Every rally, donor banquet or TV interview he would remind the people that were listening to him that there was an enemy out there that wanted to ruin their country, families and morals. The communist began to represent everything that was bad with Italy and the current government. The problem was real, but the threat was not immanent. There was a battle to be fought, but there was no reason to fight it against each other.
Berlusconi did not end there, “he also created a set of enemies against which he could mobilize his followers: the media (despite owning much of it), politics itself, Communism, women (he often commented on the appearance of female opponents) and the EU and the euro.” Berlusconi identified minorities that couldn’t or weren’t well enough organized to defend themselves and portrayed them as scapegoats, much in the same way Trump did on the campaign trail. The enemy was coming and the rising political star will want to make sure that everyone knows about it.
Berlusconi then portrait himself in two ways in response to this crisis. First he was the victim, an individual that, just like the people he was trying to represent, had been ripped off, cheated out of benefits, and was trying to survive. But secondly, he was the savior and sacrificed for his country. “I am the Jesus Christ of politics.” Berlusconi was quoted on several occasions. “I am a patient victim, I put up with everyone, I sacrifice myself for everyone.”[3]
This is a brilliant strategy, both rhetorical and politically. Many people in history have made use of it and ended up with different definitions of success. But as Christians we might be presented with a problem. We are called not to fear, in fact fear is called a sin. When we are afraid of something, we do not acknowledge God for who he is. This does not mean that we cannot vote for someone because we think that person will fix something broken about our country. But we have a Savior that has sacrificed so that we do not have to live in fear. We have a hope that goes beyond anything any political leader has to offer. This places an importance on other characteristics of a potential leader.
Another word of caution when we’re thinking about a leader that identifies a rival is the following. Identifying something to fight against, unless it is a matter of sin, will always breed fear in some segment of our community. There will be at least one minority that will feel left out and targeted.
That fear will lead to unrest. What happened with Berlusconi is that over time is that he ran out of things to blame his own faults on. Mistakes were, according to him, always caused by women, local government, courts, or, the go to for all bad thing, the media. What tripped him up was the personal scandals and mistakes, both financial and moral, which over time eroded his credibility.
Trump uses the rhetoric device of ‘we vs. them very well. As New York Times points out Trump seeks to find a minority that a majority might not be able to connect with on a personal level and labels them as losers. Jennifer Mercieca, an expert in American political discourse, writes that “If you’re an illegal immigrant, you’re a loser. If you’re captured in war, like John McCain, you’re a loser. If you have a disability, you’re a loser. It’s rhetoric like Wallace’s — it’s not a kind or generous rhetoric.”[4] On the flipside this rhetoric always points to a winner, usually the underdog, who is on the way to victory. (“When you’re really smart, when you’re really, really smart like I am — it’s true, it’s true, it’s always been true, its always been true.”)[5] People always want to be on the winning side, which is why fans switch teams so often. Labeling the minority as the losers and the majority as the winning team is an effective way to get more people headed in your direction.
If Berlusconi is the blueprint of were America is headed than that is not a good thing. First, Italy’s relation with the rest of the world is still in shambles because of the many insults that were handed out to other world leaders. Secondly, the acclaimed business man left Italy financially in shambles. “Italians preferred to laugh at Mr. Berlusconi’s bawdy behavior than discuss the budget deficit,”[6] the New York Times writes. Lastly, Berlusconi fall was hard, and he took with him most of what was left of the political establishment. Right now, Italy has a comedian as president and represents nothing that it once was.
Many, if not most, people in Europe do not understand why we elected trump as president. Why did the majority of Americans vote for him? In the words of Berlusconi, “In my opinion, and not only mine, I am the best prime minister we can find today.”[7]
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/opinion/what-a-trump-america-can-learn-from-a-berlusconi-italy.html
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jan/18/italy.features
[3] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-15642201
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/us/politics/95000-words-many-of-them-ominous-from-donald-trumps-tongue.html
[5] Ibid
[6] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/world/europe/donald-trump-silvio-berlusconi-vladimir-putin.html
