How Giorgia Meloni’s Win in Italy Helps Us Understand a US Senate Race

By David Corn  October 1, 2022

JD Vance, Republican Senate candidate in Ohio, at a campaign rally with Donald Trump in Youngstown on September 17, 2022. Tom E. Puskar/AP

When a coalition led by Mussolini fangirl Giorgia Meloni won the Italian election a few days ago and placed her on the path to becoming that nation’s first fascist-esque prime minister since Il Duce, I, like many other journalists, quickly engaged in tutorials on her rise to power. One especially frightening data point was a speech she had given outlining her conspiratorial view of the world. It’s worth quoting at length:

 

Why is the family an enemy? Why is the family so frightening? There is a single answer to all these questions. Because it defines us. Because it defines our identity. Because everything that defines us is now an enemy. For those who would like us to no longer have an identity and to simply be perfect consumer slaves. And so they attack national identity. They attack religious identity. They attack gender identity. They attack family identity. I can’t define myself as Italian, Christian, woman, mother. No, I must be citizen X, gender X, parent 1, parent 2. I must be a number. Because when I am only a number, when I no longer have an identity or roots, then I will be the perfect slave at the mercy of financial speculators. The perfect consumer. That’s the reason why, that’s why we inspire so much fear… We will defend God, country, and family. This thing that disgusts people so much. We will do it to defend our freedom. Because we will never be slaves and simple consumers at the mercy of financial speculators. That is our mission.

Meloni was saying that “financial speculators” were in league with woke activists to turn god-fearing Christian Italians into “consumer slaves.” Historian Michael Beschloss noted that “Mussolini enjoyed publicly referring to Jewish people as ‘financial speculators’ who needed to be controlled.” What makes this odious reference even more alarming is Meloni’s comment in another setting: “After our victory, you can raise your heads and finally verbalize what you always thought/believe in.” In her antisemitism-tainted speech, she was blending culture wars over identity with paranoia-driven, elites-bashing populism. This is nasty and dangerous stuff, especially given her party’s fascist roots and her explicit past enthusiasm for Mussolini.

 

As I read and pondered her mission statement, it rang a bell, and I recalled another politician who has been trying to conflate an economic populism of the right with culture battles over race and national identity: J.D. Vance, the author and venture capitalists who is the Republican Senate nominee in Ohio. He and Blake Masters, the GOP Senate candidate in Arizona, are both acolytes of tech billionaire Peter Thiel, an advocate of a bizarre blend of libertarian and nationalist notions. Thiel has committed tens of millions of dollars to supporting their campaigns. And this whole lot has been attempting to steer the Republican Party in an alt-rightish direction that in some instances seems friendly to authoritarianism. Seeking to understand this slice of the conservative movement, I’ve been scrutinizing Vance interviews, including a chat he had with conservative talk show host Bill Cunningham in the summer of 2021. Asked to explain Trump voters, Vance said:

 

What they were seeing happening was that on the one hand their communities were being decimated. They were closing manufacturing jobs. They were watching the rise of China, even as their own community declined. But on the flip side, this incredible political correctness was making it impossible to complain about it, right? If you complain about the southern border, you’re a racist. If you complain about our trade policies, you’re an idiot. If you complain about the fact that they’re teaching anti-American hate in our schools, then you’re a racist. And I think that people just got a little fed up that the country that their grandparents and parents had built was going to hell, and they weren’t allowed to say anything about it. And I think that’s really the underlying theme of [my] campaign. If we are to stop the economic plunder of this country on the one hand and if we’re going to stop the elites in this country telling you you’re not allowed to complain about it on the other.

 

This is rather deft demagoguery. Vance was contending that the elite plunderers were scheming with the woke crowd to shut up Middle America. With a veiled reference to critical race theory or perhaps the 1619 Project, he accused these connivers of using accusations of racism to stop folks—white folks—from complaining about the economic hardships they face. There was, in his view, no legitimate debate about race and America. Instead, unnamed fat cats assailed good ol’ patriotic Americans as racists in order to preserve their riches and to suppress these white Americans.

 

Cunningham cited Vance’s previous remark that CRT “is fundamentally an assault on the American founding and the people who founded the country and all the things that America has accomplished between the founding of the country and today. The left undermines America’s pride in their ancestry and history, their cross-generational story.” And Vance went on to insist that the left slyly deploys CRT and the issue of race to control decent Americans:

 

American patriotism is what gives us a pride of place in our own country. It’s what gives us this feeling that we belong to this country, that this country belongs to us, and that we have to build on it… And I think when the left attacks that and says, “Look this is an evil country, the founding generation were all white supremacists," that racism is the foundational lie at the heart of America, what they’re doing is taking away that sense of pride of place that makes it possible for us to self-govern ourselves. Really what they’re doing, I think, is making us easier to control because the people who have no sense of where it came from have no sense of where it’s going. And that’s what the left is trying to do—turn us into a people that have no idea of what we're here for or what we’re trying to accomplish.

 

The left, he claims, is trying to wipe out American patriotism and identity to oppress true-blue Americans. This is close to the conspiracy theory Meloni described: “financial speculators” and cultural leftists seeking to enslave Italians.

 

Vance spelled it out further, maintaining that the notion of white privilege “is a lie used to silence” his Americans:

 

Here’s what the elites do. When they say that those people are white privileged, they shut them up. Look, you’re unhappy about your job being shipped overseas? You’re worried that a lawless southern border is going to cause the same poison that killed your daughter to also affect your grandbaby? Don’t you dare complain about that stuff. You are white privileged. You suffer from white rage. You suffer from whatever ridiculous terminology you can apply. So I don’t think even they believe that. What they do is use it as a power play so they can get us to shut up. So they can get us to stop complaining about our own country. And they get to run things without any control, without any pushback form the real people.

 

This is a noxious formulation. Liberals and elites are cynically utilizing anti-racism to block real Americans from protesting the plunder of America by corrupt monied interests. What he would call political correctness is a cover for class warfare waged by the libs and the elites against the white middle class. Vance is melding the right’s crusade against wokeness with economic resentment, as he attacks nefarious enemies without identifying them. Who are the sinister players knowingly hurling false charges of American racism to prevent folks from questioning economic policies that have led to deindustrialization? Of course, Vance doesn’t say.

 

It's intriguing to watch Vance, as a Republican, try to cash in politically on economic dislocation. The deindustrialization he bemoans traces back to the Reagan administration. And it is President Joe Biden and the Democrats who have attempted to assist the hollowed-out Midwest by passing a massive infrastructure bill and an economic package that will fund billions of dollars in energy projects throughout this region. Trump and the GOP did nothing like this when they had the chance. (How many infrastructure weeks were there?)

 

Vance, who has been endorsed by Donald Trump, is marrying legitimate and deep-rooted economic grievances with visceral cultural resentments, while much of his party tends to devote more energy to the latter than the former. There are many reasons why Americans ought to pay attention to the rise of fascism and right-wing extremism in Europe. One is to help us see what is happening within our own country. Now I’m not suggesting that Vance is a fascist like Meloni. But he certainly is playing with the same fire she is.

 

By the way, check out this piece I did on Vance’s flip-flop regarding the infamous Nazi rally in Charlottesville in 2017 that led to a white nationalist murdering a counter-protester. It shows the depths of Vance’s cynicism and pro-Trump toadyism.

 

Got anything to say about this item—or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com

American Psychosis in the News

Two weeks ago, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell praised my new book, American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy, when it was released. Each promised to have me come on their show to discuss the work. This week, both kept their word. In our conversation, Maddow tied Meloni’s win to the decades-long march of Italian fascism after World War II and noted the American parallel of rightwing extremism’s persistence within the Republican coalition, as depicted in American Psychosis. You can watch that clip.

O’Donnell focused on a telling fact in the book from 1964: a prominent fascist, antisemite, and Christian nationalist named Allen Zoll was a national staffer for Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign. He is now a historical footnote. But Zoll is part of the long, dark, and (until now) little acknowledged saga of the GOP’s use and encouragement of far-right extremism. As O’Donnell pointed out, he is emblematic of the larger story chronicled by American Psychosis.

Dumbass Comment of the Week

Desperate times lead to really dumbass comments—and confusion. It seems the far right can’t decide whether the United States is a gulag where dissent is crushed or a paradise where we should all love it or leave it. Ahead of his trial on seditious conspiracy and other charges stemming from the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers right-wing militia, was moaning about his prosecution. With the trial opening this past Tuesday, Rhodes said it was “like being tried in Putin’s Russia right now or in China... It’s the same thing.”

Well, no. I imagine someone in Russia who assembled a paramilitary group, amassed an arsenal of weapons, and attacked the Kremlin to overturn Vladimir Putin’s government would meet with a different experience than what Rhodes and his comrades are going through in the US District Court in Washington, DC. Rhodes is not the martyr he claims to be.

 

Meanwhile, Herschel Walker, the Trump-endorsed Big Liar Republican running for the US Senate in Georgia, offered this old chestnut: “If you don’t like the rules in this country here you can leave. We’re not holding you here.”

Was that a message for Rhodes? And wouldn’t this ugly admonition apply to all the Trumpers who are trying to change election rules because, they (baselessly) claim, these rules allowed victory to be stolen from Dear Leader? The alt-right Trump crowd considers itself a disruptive force bent on busting rules and norms, and Trump certainly did not abide by many rules. Perhaps Walker ought to check in with his cult leader on this.  

 

While we have Meloni on our mind, it was stunning but not surprising to see conservative voices in the United States, including Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) congratulate her on her electoral victory. Chief among these right-wingers was Mike Pompeo, who served as CIA director and then secretary of state for Trump. He tweeted, “Congratulations to @GioriaMeloni. Italy deserves and needs strong conservative leadership. Buona Fortuna!”

Someone should remind Pompeo that tens of thousands of Americans gave their lives fighting the Italian fascists in World War II. And he lauded a woman who has praised Mussolini.

 

Crossing to the other side of the aisle—sort of—let’s turn to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Supposed D-Ariz.). Appearing at the center created by Mitch McConnell at the University of Louisville, she continued her hard-to-fathom political journey by defending the Senate filibuster and proclaiming, “Not only am I committed to the 60-vote threshold, I have an incredibly unpopular view, I actually think we should restore the 60-vote threshold for the areas in which it has been eliminated already."

That would seemingly make it impossible to get almost anything done in the Senate. Clearly, she is a legislator who does not want to legislate. Extend the non-constitutional mandate for a super-majority, and there will be far less votes for senators to take. 

 

With all this fierce competition, though, Ben Stein easily won the week. Stein is a former Nixon White House official who went on to have a career as a conservative commentator and a character actor, most notably playing nerdy teachers in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Wonder Years. In an interview with Lara Trump (wife of Eric), Stein unleashed this batcrap crazy statement: “Both President Trump and President Nixon were kicked out of office for doing exactly nothing wrong. It was just a lynch mob that was assembled on the word of some crank people highly placed in the media.”

Pure bonkers. Neither man was kicked out of office. Nixon resigned, after Republican congressional leaders told him that he had lost their support when smoking-gun evidence of his crimes emerged. And Trump, uh, lost an election. Moreover, is Stein really suggesting Watergate was just a media hoax? This guy needs to go back to school.

The Mailbag

In a recent piece tracing one component of Trump’s current legal troubles (the $250 million lawsuit filed against him and his adult kids, minus Tiffany, by New York State attorney general Letitia James), I referred to the oft-cited comment that the long arc of the universe bends toward justice. Reader Don Bronkema had a slightly different take: “Prurient schadenfreude boasts a long arc of its own.”

 

Apparently with Michael Flynn in mind, Mary Bristow shared this concern:

What is it with all these former military men—many of them generals!—who have gone completely bonkers in their retirement? Was the crazy previously restrained by uniforms and regulations and military discipline?  Did they drink too much bad water and breath bad air during their service? Did they get infected in a foreign land by some strange brain eating parasite? Considering how we, and much of the world, rely on our military for defense and security—and how the former guy thought he could use it at home to his own benefit, and would have if a few people in key positions had allowed it—it is concerning. I'd like to think that the ones we see are not representative of a larger group, but it is worrisome. 

 

I agree that Flynn and his craziness are disconcerting. This guy was once head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, meaning he was in charge of the Pentagon’s intelligence operation. Was he a loon back then? Then he was—very briefly—Trump’s national security adviser in the White House. There are many troubling instances of top military officials becoming public advocates of far-right extremism and fringe ideas. My assumption—hope?—is that this is not an indication the military brass is disproportionately comprised of Flynn-like lunatics. But his case is certainly a reminder of the need for vigilance.

 

Referring to the reminiscence of my exchange with President Barack Obama about the 47 percent tape, Harvey Berman wrote:

 

This might sound hyperbolic, but in my opinion your bold move on getting the Romney tape publicized was likely what gave Obama that margin of victory in 2012… It instantly made me a fan of you and your tireless dedication to finding the truth. It may not be your style to gloat, but if you’re ever having a bad day meditate on that fact.

 

Thanks, Harvey. I try not to get stuck in bad days and believe in focusing on all the reasons there are for gratitude: David Bowie, sushi, my family, good health. And that list includes supportive readers and subscribers of Our Land.

 

Bradford Lyeria sent in this complaint:

 

It hurts your credibility that you are still on Twitter. It also makes for lazy journalism. Quoting tweets about the world is not the same thing as reporting real events.

 

I do not concur. Twitter provides me a platform to share my work—and that of other Mother Jones journalists—with almost 1 million followers. It allows me to engage in serious debates about politics and policies and to participate in the occasional silliness. It does not supplant my journalism, as I continue to produce scoops, analysis, and, recently, even a book you might have heard of. I'll give up my Twitter when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

 

Roger Smith doesn’t seem to mind my Twitter presence:

 

You continue to do yeoman work in calling the "varlet" Donald Trump to account. I have purchased American Psychosis and will read it with anticipated pleasure very soon. Presuming I will love it, as I do, I will go on Amazon and extravagantly praise it. Congratulations on making the NYT bestseller list. I hope others will, like me, overcome initial resistance to "yet another Trump book" and buy and read it. You are rapidly becoming the Trump era's Thomas Paine.

 

Oh boy, thanks for piling it on, Roger. I’m glad you realized that American Psychosis is not “yet another Trump book” and that it is the origin story of Trumpism, not Trump, explaining how the GOP and the USA reached this current perilous moment. If you like American Psychosis, posting a positive review on Amazon and elsewhere does help. And I bet that if Tom Paine were around today, he’d be using Twitter.

MoxieCam™

“What’s that?”

“It’s an echocardiogram showing you have a slight heart murmur, Moxie.”

“What does that mean?”

“Not much for now. We just keep an eye on it. You might need medicine in a year or two.”

“Any surgery?”

“The vet did tell me there’s a procedure performed in Japan. It costs $30,000. And some people fly their dogs to Tokyo for it.”

“You do love me, right?”

“Of course, we do.”

Read Recent Issues of Our Land

September 27, 2022: Stormy Daniels, AOC, and the long arc of Donald Trump’s possible downfall; American Psychosis in the news; Skullduggery and the Havana Syndrome; the New York Times agrees about Mark Finchem; and more.

 

September 24, 2022: The craziest GOP candidate in the nation; American Psychosis becomes a bestseller; Dumbass Comment of the Week (FPOTUS); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

 

September 21, 2022: Donald Trump and the birth of QMaga; American Psychosis in the news; House of the Dragon versus The Rings of Power; and more.

 

September 17, 2022: American Psychosis and the reckoning of history; the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

 

September 13: What Barack Obama said to me about the 47 percent video; the release of American Psychosis; and more.

 

September 10, 2022: A death in Washington and a very Trumpian conspiracy theory; American Psychosis update; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Donald Trump Jr.); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

 

September 7, 2022: Donald Trump and gaslight fascism; the conservative crazy gets crazier; American Psychosis: the first review; a brilliant after-the-Vietnam War novel and Dark Winds; and more.

 

September 2, 2022: Snowflake fascists and the GOP politics of rubber and glue; American Psychosis tease of the week; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Blake Masters); Michael Ondaatje’s The Cat’s Table and Sara Watkins’ “You and Me”; the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

 

August 26, 2022: In praise of preaching to the choir; American Psychosis tease of the week; J.D. Vance and the podcaster who said “feminists need rape”; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Mitch McConnell); comparing The Old Man, Westworld, and For All Mankind; the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more

 

August 19, 2022: Has Biden learned from Obama’s big #fail?; American Psychosis tease of the week; conflicted feelings about Liz Cheney; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Ted Cruz); Better Call Saul’s magnificent finale; MoxieCam™; and more.

Got suggestions, comments, complaints, tips related to any of the above, or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com.