Mark Twain once said that "history doesn't repeat itself, but if often rhymes." That apparently holds true in Italy, as the great-grandson of former Prime Minister Benito Mussolini — the founder and leader of Italy's National Fascist Party, which was in power from 1922 and 1943 — will reportedly run in the upcoming European Parliamentary elections in May.
Caio Giulio Cesare Mussolini will run as a representative of the Brothers of Italy, a far-right party. Named after Julius Caesar, the younger Mussolini is a former submariner in the Italian navy and also served as the Middle East representative for Italy's largest defense company. He has no political experience, but reportedly said he has "breathed politics" his entire life. He described himself as a "post-fascist who refers to those values in a non-ideological way."
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Perhaps this rare, but not invisible nostalgia for Il Duce, as Mussolini was known, was the impetus for his great-grandson to enter the political realm. As Mussolini told Il Messagero, a Rome-based newspaper, "So many people want to put Mussolini on the ballot."
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