Trump, Berlusconi, and Satire
While his unfavorability numbers from polling suggest that more than 50% of voting citizens in the United States most likely enjoyed Saturday Night Live this past weekend, Mr. Trump was not happy with the satirical comments made at his expense.
The American presidential candidate, or the “guy with the weird hair” according to SNL, is not simply hating on Alec Baldwin. Trump is also expressing his disregard for the First Amendment.
When Trump tweeted, “Time to retire the boring and unfunny show,” I was reminded of a few other tweets that also expressed some disregard for freedom of speech and of the press:
Trump will only accept stories supporting his truth. Tonight’s debate was no exception to this rule. If a story contradicts him it is either a “bigly” lie or fiction, or apparently, both simultaneously.
At this point, it is fair to ask: what will happen to free speech if Trump is elected president?
Silvio Berlusconi
Italy’s 50th Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, a successful businessman-turned-politician, revealed how threatening political satire can be for misogynist leaders.
Enrico Flaiano, a co-author of Italy’s beloved Federico Fellini, warned Italians that by the late 1980s “Italy will be formed not in the image of its governments, but in the image of television.” By 1994, Berlusconi was in office and using television to reshape and censor Italy. As owner of Mediaset, Italy’s largest commercial broadcasting company, Berlusconi took control of television and brought Italian media under government control.
In 2002, Berlusconi not only got annoyed with satirical representations of his behavior, but as PM he was also in the position to make sure some journalists and comedians “retired” early. Enzo Biagi, Michele Santoro, and Daniele Luttazi — three television personalities — were kicked off the air by Berlusconi’s regime for using public television in a “criminal manner.” Luttazi, a stand-up comedian, along with journalists Biagi and Santoro, were punished — or muzzled — for fact-checking Berlusconi’s lavish claims and criticizing Berlusconi’s government and its roots on television.
Berlusconi did not just buy his way to the top. It was his success with Mediaset and as a businessman that made him so appealing as a political official. The Italian voters’ hope that Berlusconi’s business wisdom would help their economy mirrors the belief of many Trump supporters in his belief to make the United States “great again.” Instead of listening to hyperbole and empty promises, Americans should look to the effects of Berlusconi’s reign: in 2016 Italy’s economy is on the verge of a collapse. Further, in 2004 Italian freedom of press rankings dropped from “free” to “partly free” — a status shared with only one other country in Western Europe: Turkey.
Sabina Guzzanti
Sabina Guzzanti is another satirist Berlusconi could not handle being on-screen. In 2003, Berlusconi sued the satirist for defamation after the airing of the first and only episode of RaiOt, a show featuring an unforgiving critique of Berlusconi’s government. RaiOt aired on RAI3 and was immediately cancelled, but Guzzanti got her side of the story out in the 2005 film Viva Zapatero!
Later in 2008, with the help of the Lateran Treaty set in place by fascist leader, Benito Mussolini, Berlusconi’s regime threatened to jail Guzzanti for this statement against Pope Benedict XVI :
“In 20 years Ratzinger will be dead and will end up in hell, tormented by queer demons — not passive ones, but very active ones.”
While we can agree or disagree with the sentiment expressed, as supporters of Free Speech we can only be horrified by the prospect of prison time as the consequence of making a joke, however risqué.
Trump & Berlusconi
Trump and Berlusconi are not original in their fear of satire. Powerful individual have historically expressed anxiety about satirical representations, especially ones that make people laugh. For people like Trump and Berlusconi the perfect audience is probably one that sits quietly and occasionally nods in agreement. But the uncontrollable laughter that brings a person to slap their knee or throw their head back is too disruptive for the Trumps and Berlusconis, who can only conceive of an audience and a citizenry that is captive, controlled.
The two businessmen have more in common than a fear of satire and free speech: both men also share a penchant for misogyny. In 2005 Trump was recorded promoting a version of masculinist sexuality unconcerned with partner consent, leaving us with the inescapable soundbite of a US presidential candidate explaining that you’ve just got to “grab’m by the pussy.” And in 2013 Berlusconi was found guilty of having paid for sex with a minor (unfortunately, the verdict was successfully appealed in 2014).
So maybe there is a connection between the blatant disregard for the freedom of speech and of the press, the fear of political satire, and treating women like objects?
Dario Fo & Satire
Italian satirist Dario Fo died just a few days before Trump challenged the First Amendment with his tweet Sunday morning. But for years now, Fo has warned us of how hard it is “for power to enjoy or incorporate humor and satire in its system of control.” Specifically, Fo warned against people with control over the media: “Every time you touch those who have power over the media, they seek to stop you.” Making fun of people with power was for Fo the only way to reveal the truth of war.
Satire is a tool. Some might even say it is a tool for democracy. Satire allows pain to be expressed with accessibility. It is, as Dario Fo states, what makes “subversion of the existing state of affairs possible.” Satire allows people without power to be heard and it gives everyone a chance to laugh in a time of perpetual misery and devastation.
As frightened as Americans, and the rest of the world, are at the prospect of a Trump presidency, we should remember how important it is to laugh at power, especially as it is embodied in The Donald. When you’re the figurehead of a cult of personality constructed entirely on image, nothing is more dangerous than seeming ridiculous.
