It's finally come to this: a historian who's written a book on Mussolini told Business Insider that comparing Trump to Il Duce is an insult to Benny the Moose. Because Mussolini was literate in more than one language, read newspapers daily, and was artistic....
Earlier in the article, another historian's tweet was quoted (Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a New York University historian who’s written extensively on Mussolini):
Quote: David I. Kertzer, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Pope and Mussolini, told Insider that comparing Trump and Mussolini does “a disservice” to the Italian leader given he “read newspapers every day in four languages, followed policy issues closely, played the violin and loved classical music, and was not particularly interested in lining his own pocket (although there was no lack of corruption in his regime).”
“What the present moment in American politics does make me appreciate more is how Italy, a parliamentary democracy, could so quickly become a dictatorship,” Kertzer added.
Kertzer noted that Mussolini said “people were like sheep” and “craved being followers,” adding, “Like Trump, he had very little in the way of strong ideological beliefs himself, and knew the power of emotional rather than rational appeals, and of the power of repeating simple, emotionally powerful yet substantively empty phrases (Make America Great Again).”
To Kertzer, the most striking parallel between Trump and Mussolini is that similar to the Italian fascist dictator, the president has enjoyed strong support from religious leaders despite not having “a religious bone in his body.”
Earlier in the article, another historian's tweet was quoted (Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a New York University historian who’s written extensively on Mussolini):
Quote:Ruth Ben-Ghiat
@ruthbenghiat
When Mussolini was still Prime Minister, he used to joke about staying in office for 20 years. No one understood what he meant until it was too late.
Rob Way
@RobWayTV
“10 more years,” a crowd at President Trump’s South Carolina rally just started chanting.
Trump: “We’ll set the term limit at 25 years” and said Senator Lindsey Graham will help get it passed.
11:58 AM · Feb 29, 2020
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"The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that this was some killer weed."
"The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that this was some killer weed."