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this nose-thumbing of "political correctness" has allowed both Berlusconi and Trump to successfully create an unusual hybrid persona: a kind of everyman's billionaire. Someone who, on the one hand, by virtue of extreme wealth, success, and audacity, is a kind of superman for whom the normal rules of conduct don't apply. At the same time, their plain, coarse speech connects viscerally with many people, particularly the less educated part of the electorate. They have an improbable inter-class appeal, very rich men who pursue policies that benefit the very rich while making effective rhetorical appeals, in a beerhall idiom, to the grievances of the struggling members of the middle and working classes. Neither Trump nor Berlusconi has a real political program; what they are selling is themselves. (it) |
