The first time I went to Italy I landed in Milan. One of the most beautiful churches in the world, Il Duomo, is located in the center of the city. https://www.google.com/search?q=duomo+in+milan&biw=1408&bih=649&site=webhp&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjiuePytb7LAhUCNSYKHZzpBrMQ7AkIPQ&dpr=1.36
The day I went to view it there was a big protest march with Italians walking around the church holding signs and shouting curses. An Italian journalist who spoke good English was taking notes, and I asked him what was going on. His name was Mario.
He told me the Catholic Church owned all the income properties in the area of the cathedral, and it had recently raised the rents on the apartments under its control. The marchers were protesting the increase. They were saying, in Italian, “The rent is too damn high!!!”
Mario must have been interested in talking to an American, because we got into a conversation about politics and government. He said that government in Italy was a joke, and that the government changed with alarming frequency. It didn’t matter who was in charge, he said. It made no difference. In Mario’s opinion, Italy didn’t even need a government.
In the 1980’s a man from Milan named Silvio Berlusconi made a fortune by building a garden city called Milano 2, and with that money bought a controlling interest in television networks. He made literally billions of dollars from TV advertising revenues.
In the early 1990’s Berlusconi got into politics. He claimed he was the richest man in Italy. He was supremely confident and promised that as a self-made billionaire he could repair Italy’s dysfunctional political system. He was always on television, written about endlessly, often involved in scandals, and constantly bragged about his sexual conquests. He connected with the people and talked non-stop. Nothing stuck to him, and he was Italy’s version of New York godfather John Gotti, the Teflon Don.
In 1994 he became prime minister and served in that position for three terms totaling nine years. He was a crashing failure, and Italy is still paying the price for electing him. After he left office he was convicted of tax fraud and for soliciting an underage prostitute.
It’s pretty obvious there are overwhelming similarities between Mr. Berlusconi and the current Republican presidential front-runner, Donald Trump.
More significant is the current attitude of the American voting public and what that Milanese journalist said years ago. They think it doesn’t matter who’s in charge of the government. It’s a farce, and the leaders are totally corrupt.
Let’s blow it up by electing someone different, someone who’s not a typical politician. What have we got to lose?
In the 2012 election, 58% of eligible voters cast ballots for the presidential candidate of their choice, which means that 42% stayed home. That latter number, 42%, is the number of eligible voters who participated in the 2014 mid-term election.
Say what you will, the candidacies of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have energized the electorate. One candidate knows nothing and refuses to answer questions about his non-existent policies. The other makes promises he can’t possibly keep.
The supporters of both men are like the three wise monkeys: they see, hear, and speak no evil about their particular candidate.
What happens if both of these gentlemen are in the finals? Welcome to bizarro world.
by 
Well, Carlo, after last night, I don’t think we have to worry much about Bernie stealing the nomination. Hillary has it wrapped up. Let’s hope she doesn’t make any serious unforced errors. BTW, every time I see a picture of Bernie, I think of my cousin’s son. He is a Bernie supporter, just turned 21. He recently moved to Holden with his parents after living his entire life in Holland. He has dual citizenship, as does his father. I can’t stand him, and I feel guilty about it because he is young, and I feel like I shouldn’t be judging him. I will be glad when Bernie is out of the spotlight. I also hope that Hillary doesn’t go too far left to appease Bernie’s fans. BTW#2: Do you have any ideas for a blog? I’m fresh out, and don’t want to keep repeating myself.
The RNC and the Republican party movers and shakers don’t want Trump to be the nominee, not because they are afraid he might lose to Hillary, but because they are afraid he might WIN! There is nothing to suggest that Trump CAN’T win – just look at what he has done already – things nobody thought he would or could do. Not saying that this translates well into a general election, but it surely has some folks on edge. The Republican Party has been increasingly trying to distance itself from Trump, that much is obvious. Why? Because they know that a Trump presidency will be a train wreck, and he will take them down with him when he crashes and burns. Just as Berlusconi is responsible for Forzi Italia losing many parliament seats over the last 10 years or so, as well as causing so much in-fighting that splinter groups have formed, Trump would cause such a backlash against the GOP, by association, that the country wouldn’t be able to vote sitting Republican lawmakers out of office fast enough. I’m no Larry Sabato, nor is this a theory that I’ve heard anywhere else, so I’m really going out on a limb here, but I think it has validity.
My prediction is the Republican Party will get behind Trump if they HAVE to give him the nomination, which is probably what’s going to happen. Their rationalization is that nobody can be worse than Hillary. They’re screwed either way—if he’s the nominee they know he can’t win, and if they take the nomination away from him at the convention his supporters will revolt. Trump has yet to win a primary with 50% of the vote, and we’re talking only Republican voters. This will be a Goldwater-LBJ election all over again, with Trump playing the part of Goldwater and with the same landslide result.
So it will be a guy who bought favors from a lady that sold them. Two crooks. So who is worse. The thief or the pawn shop?
I do not see the GOP machine getting behind him. He doesn’t play well with others, and can’t be told what to do. He’s not suddenly going to start being “Joe Republican” and jumping through their hoops just because they tell him to. He cannot be allowed to be the face of the party. He is too divisive, and will fracture the GOP more than he already has. You’ve heard of the “untouchables” in India? Republicans will be the “unelectables” in this country if Trump wins, and the enormity of that overshadows one loss to Hillary.