Propaganda • Politics •
Public Works • the Bully Pulpit
Four Trump plays from the Mussolini handbook
At his mass rallies, President Trump likes to quip that maybe President for Life is a pretty good deal.
From where I sit in Rome, it’s hard to tell on some days, who said it better?
Trump or Mussolini?
Although little Benito started out in abject poverty, the differences between the two end
there. As a child, he was considered unruly, aggressive and moody.
Mussolini grew up to
become a media man who understood how much power properly placed propaganda
held to prop him up. As he carried out his mission to establish a one-party
state, fortunately, he would not achieve totalitarian rule because the monarchy
and the papacy acted as a sort of check on his ambitions and power; not to
mention the allies later running offense up and down the Italian peninsula,
Africa and elsewhere to resoundingly put him and his fascist ways asunder.
But first, about
that monarchy: The House of Savoy was beloved by the people – it's said that even
the Margherita pizza was named after a Queen. Mussolini's Fascist party would eventually march on Rome forcing King Vittorio Emanuele III to dissolve parliament and make Mussolini not only Prime Minister, but Minister of the Interior and Foreign Affairs to boot. Mussolini, a great proponent of public works, quickly set off to clear the way for a massive avenue - the Via dei Fori Imperiali - so he might hold tributes in front of the huge white monument erected for Italy's kings.
But by the time the war
ended, the Savoia’s would be run out of the country into exile in Egypt; their
palaces and properties confiscated, and no male heirs or royal consorts
permitted ever to return. This held up until 2003, when Parliament figured that
by then, they were quite toothless, only to discover that the former Prince had
used his idle time to start up a prostitution ring in the northern gambling
town of Campione d’Italia. His son recently set up a street food stand
in LA. I guess they could use the dough.
But why did
popular sentiment turn on them so quickly? Italians, after the war, realized
that the monarchy had not defended its own people – pretty much its only real
job description, other than that of opening bottles of champagne for visiting
dignitaries. Mussolini had enacted the racial laws and before anyone knew it,
Italian citizens, Jews, were being rounded up from the ghettos, eventually to be hauled
off to death camps to the North, most never to return. This was too much for
the peaceful people of Italy – even for those who had so blindly supported
Mussolini and his muscling in on their basic liberties.
At rallies—surrounded by supporters wearing black shirts—Mussolini caught the imagination of the crowds shouting, 'Viva l’italia!' Many
Italians, especially among the middle class, welcomed his authority. They were
tired of strikes and riots, responsive to the flamboyant trappings of fascism, and ready to submit to dictatorship, provided
the national economy was stabilized and their country restored to its dignity. It would be declared:
“Either the government will be given to us, or we will seize it by marching on
Rome.”
[source: Brittanica]
So how did
Mussolini rise to wield such power over a people and get away with it…that is,
up until he was hanging by his feet from a lamppost in Milan, marking the end of
WWII? At least in Italy. And especially for him? When elected Prime Minister in
1922, his Fascist party held only 32 of 535 seats. This guy, who many
considered a blowhard, and far too young and unprepared for high office,
swiftly obtained ‘emergency powers’, garnering control over parliament. In his
defense, he remarked, “It is really easier to give orders myself instead of
having to send for the Minister concerned and convince him about what I have
done.” Just one year later, he would introduce a law to gain absolute
majority in parliament. By the next election, the Fascists would secure 66% of
the vote.
“I have absolute right to do what I
want to do with the Justice Department."
To gain support of the people, Mussolini operated a binary system:
employing intimidation or threats to suppress his opponents, while at the same
time pretending to be a moderate when it came to crafting deals. He would be
the lone warrior against that ultimate evil, socialism: “Italy… wants peace,
wants quiet, wants work, wants calm; we will give it with love, if that be
possible. Or with strength if that be necessary.” But who said it best?
“It should be a bill of love,” Mr Trump said, but “it
also has to be a bill where we’re able to secure our border. Drugs are pouring
into our country at a record pace. A lot of people coming in that we can’t
have.”
That split
message, part conciliatory and part unyielding…
[Independent • Jan
9, 2018]
Mussolini set out to ban opposition parties and non-fascist unions; not
unlike corporate America’s decades-long battle against labor and teacher unions
– perhaps starting with Ronald Reagan’s mass firing of the air traffic
controllers in 1981, and ending with Walmart’s utter disregard for workers, up
to Wisconsin’s banning of teacher unions altogether. Mussolini picked off
opposition Senators one by one with those finding themselves like a few Dems
who today are on the wrong side of the NRA, or publicly humiliated after a
particularly cogent grilling of one’s Attorney General.
Pocahantas…Flakey…Flunkey…”Except for one
senator, who came into a room at 3 o'clock in the morning and went like that [gesturing thumbs down, ndr]
we would have had health care too, think of that.”
But one of the most effective tactics was Mussolini’s private security
detail; basically arresting people for any anti-party activity. In the USA,
peaceful demonstrators get arrested, others intimidated or frozen out for their
‘anti-patriotic’ stance while drivers are encouraged to plow through
demonstrations. And ICE – well, we know which party those families would belong
to, if they could vote. Mussolini reintroduced the death penalty in 1926, with
scores of ‘traitors’ in line for execution, declaring, “…It will be less and
less easy to threaten the government’s existence and tranquillity of the
Italian people.” I imagine hordes chanting at his rallies, “Lock them up!”
Eventually, 12000 prisoners would be held captive on a remote island, picked up
by the private military police and Mussolini’s personal ‘bodyguards’.
“We are going to take a strong look
at our country’s libel laws, so that when somebody says something that is false
and defamatory about someone, that person will have meaningful recourse in our
courts,” adding,
“Our current libel laws are a sham
and a disgrace and do not represent American values or American fairness.”
President-elect Donald Trump doesn’t seem to tire of setting new
precedents. Despite being provided with a newly bolstered Secret Service detail
after the election, the president-elect has retained his own private security and
intelligence force, breaking with tradition and creating operational and
potentially legal problems.
Mussolini knew that another pillar to take down would be opposition
newspapers, so he started censoring them, harassing editors or forcing them
into exile. He ultimately proclaimed that one could only report within the
confines of the State – his State – and no one would be permitted to muddy its
name or actions. While obstructing the opposition press, he used his own
newspaper, Il Popolo d’Italia (People of Italy) to spread his State
propaganda. Even military defeats would be portrayed as a win.
President Trump kicked CNN reporter Jim Acosta out of the Oval Office
after the reporter badgered him with questions. “Out!”
While speaking about or tweeting about “fake news!” 153 times
in his
first 11 months in office.
Enter Matteotti – who denounced this despot as early as 1924 -– “You
want to hurl the country backwards, towards absolutism… We will defend by
demanding that light be shed on elections” he challenged, culminating his
impassioned speech with, “Now you can prepare my funeral oration.”
Matteotti would be assassinated in short order, allegedly by Mussolini’s own
private security force. In protest, 150 opposition members left the Chamber
during one of Mussolini’s speeches. He quickly proclaimed that anyone leaving
would not be allowed back into the House.
“The true believers who pulverize the search for truth are a fixture of
American life. Their attachment to their heroes is absolute and impregnable. They have built themselves a big, beautiful wall. They have laid the
cornerstones of absolutism. [source: The American Prospect]
On the Democratic Black Caucus:
“They were like death, un-American. Somebody said treasonous. Yeah, I
guess, why not?
Can we call that treason? Why not?
I mean, they certainly didn’t seem to
love our country very much.”
To further consolidate his power, he turned a blind eye to tax evasion
by big business and introduced religious education in public schools. He
brought the men of the cloth to his side by increasing pay for the clergy and
banning contraception, while at the same time, locking his own former mistress
and her child in a lunatic asylum, lest they speak out.
Trump signs new budget deal giving taxpayer money to churches
in direct
violation of the U.S. Constitution.
It seems a swathe of people were still more inclined to protect the
unborn than their own freedoms. Mussolini chirped from his balcony in Rome’s
Piazza Venezia for every decree: “The truth is, the people are tired of
liberty.” Once he determined he could govern by decree, he would hand down a
dizzying 100,000 of them.
Trump issued more Executive
Orders in his first 100 days in office than any president since Harry
Truman.
By 1928, just 6 years after taking power, all new newspapers would be
banned. Thankfully, in a digital age this is impossible, but terming any
opposition article, “fake news” or insisting that journalists are the “Enemy of
the People” while muddying the waters with real fake news, comes as close as
you can to mirroring the nefarious deeds of the past in the new millennium. Soon,
Italians would be ‘educated’ with pro-fascist viewpoints alone – resistance
outlawed entirely.
More than 200 protesters arrested
on Inauguration Day will face felony rioting charges
In just under a year, by restricting the freedom of the press, the Fascists
were fully in control of the people of Italy. The result? Mussolini became ever
more popular, convincing the populace that extensive public works projects put
people to work while educating the masses in civic virtue. It was not long for
people to see that a strong single governing body would create an even
stronger, united Italy.
"I hope they arrest these
people because they're really violating all of us," Trump said.
His fervor to ‘go it alone’ (up until joining Hitler) was legend. But
who said it better? “We become strongest, I
feel, when we have no friends upon whom to lean, or to look for moral guidance”.
“'America First' - we won’t be lectured by corrupt countries on the
Palestinian and Israeli issue."
"I am a Nationalist."
This ushered in the attack on the Deep State or the Cucks, or both –
purging them until a fervent 300,000 followers would swear personal alliance to
Mussolini, alone. He needed to make sure that the most radical ones who wanted
a revolution – say, the Bannon’s of the group – were not allowed near the halls
of power. A former (socialist) colleague of his would provide the perfect
metaphor for Mussolini: “He is a rabbit, a phenomenal rabbit. He roars –
observes those who do not know him – and mistake him for a lion.” Of course
– Mussolini was once a socialist. But it would not take long to hear him call
out Socialism as “A fraud, a comedy, a phantom, a blackmail.“
“Based on the fact
that the very unfair and unpopular Individual Mandate has been terminated as
part of our Tax Cut Bill”
In the end, it was this trumped up fear of socialism that allowed
Mussolini to cling to power. And even as he gained control over most parts of
government, he continued his shenanigans, playing with propaganda, day in and
day out, in order to garner more recognition and tributes. His mantra, “The
people must accept obedience. They must and they will believe what I tell
them…” would soon securely establish his influence over a people. It was,
effectively, a one-party state.
“Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts.”
More propaganda tools were set into motion, including the publication,
ostentatiously called, The Cult of Il Duce. Mussolini would be the first
to appear in a talkie movie. Posters would be printed, and State control over
businesses following the crash of 1929 were deemed ‘necessary’ to help prop up
the banks. The Corporate takeover of Italy was well-established at this point.
Mussolini himself, the ex-socialist, put it this way: “Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism
because it is a merger of state and corporate power.” Just ask Tillerson. Or the Koch Bros. Or the Waltons, or
virtually every cabinet member tied to a major corporation.
“You work for me, you don’t
criticize me,” the president was reported to have told one major federal
contractor.
Public works projects guaranteed full
employment, with Mussolini summoning the ghost of Caesar to make his case. “A
nation of spaghetti eaters cannot restore Roman civilization.” In other
words, Make Rome Great Again. All told, it was the
propaganda machine that gave him a comfortable, uncontested seat at the top.
Britain’s Times observed, “Italy has never been seen so united as she
is today. Fascism…abolished the game of parliamentary chess… it has given…
national respect.”
According to Encyclopedia Brittanica, "Mussolini might have remained a hero until his death, had not his callous xenophobia and arrogance, his misapprehension of Italy's fundamental necessities, and his dreams of empire led him to seek foreign conquests.".
But what about that monarchy or the church as a check on his power? Although the Pope
publicly upbraided Mussolini for his anti-semitism and his cozying up to Hitler
in 1938, it was not soon enough nor emphatic enough; merely a slight tear in
his iron-clad glove. It would seem that the Church still preferred a
dictator over a socialist. And the die was cast.
As for the King, Mussolini would simply ignore advice
doled out in their weekly meetings, limiting his interaction with the monarch.
The King, in an effort to reestablish his position, welcomed the Führer to Rome
instead of letting him meet with Mussolini. While still in control of the
military, the King made his bed. He would eventually have to sleep in it – in
exile.
Mussolini, in a rare moment of frankness,
would concede he had had to share power, stating, “There were three of us: me, the
King and the Pope.”
Alas, the United States cannot count on either of the
latter two.
@irreverentitaly
Blogger & Author, Francesca Maggi
Has been commenting on Italy’s State of Affairs since
2007
Burnt by the Tuscan Sun • Irreverent Italy on Facebook
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