Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, on the comeback trail, hates being compared to Trump


You may see similarities between President Trump and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi — both elderly billionaires have suspiciously tanned skin, surgically enhanced hair, reputations for active libidos, high esteem for Russia's Vladimir Putin, a penchant for mixing their business and politics, anti-immigrant politics, and a preternatural ability to drive their critics crazy. But don't tell that to Berlusconi.
The former Italian leader is making his political comeback, The New York Times reports, though his long string of business and sex scandals led Parliament to bar him from holding office until 2019, he was convicted of tax fraud in 2013, and he still faces trial for alledgedly bribing witnesses to keep silent about his sex-fueled Bunga Bunga parties. In March 4 elections, Berlusconi, 81, is expected to emerge as kingmaker, the Times' Jason Horowitz reports:
His resurrection is both astonishing and entirely unsurprising when one considers that Mr. Berlusconi has over the decades conditioned and desensitized an electorate that has picked him as prime minister three times despite, well, everything. ... In a measure of how unpredictable global politics have become, things have come back around for the pre-Trump era's leading personification of conflicts of interest, outsize appetites, and the politics of victimization and press demonization. In the age of President Trump — comparisons to whom Mr. Berlusconi cannot stand — the Italian mogul has successfully recast himself as grandfather, or nonno, to the nation. [The New York Times]
Berlusconi, who appears almost nightly on the TV stations he owns, "has been deeply reluctant to discuss" Trump, Horowitz writes, but "one person who spoke privately with the Berlusconi family" about Trump said "Berlusconi had a low opinion of the American president and disliked being compared to him." "Surely Berlusconi doesn't love it," close ally Giovanni Toti tells the Times. "It's a mistake to compare Trump to one of the most experienced statesmen in Europe." Read more about Berlusconi's improbable comeback at The New York Times.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
FIRE is catching as people want to leave the traditional workforce
In the spotlight Many are taking steps to retire early
-
How might Bari Weiss change CBS News?
Talking Points Is the network trying to ‘appease’ the president?
-
‘A legacy news brand brings a visibility of its own’
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Bondi stonewalls on Epstein, Comey in Senate face-off
Speed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi denied charges of using the Justice Department in service of Trump’s personal vendettas
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to Chicago
Speed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US