Berlusconi wrote the playbook for the modern populist
His overwhelming desire to be loved meant he failed to use his popularity in his years of power to make the tough structural reforms that Italy needed.
Before there was Donald Trump, Viktor Orban and Boris Johnson, there was Silvio Berlusconi.
The billionaire media tycoon, who died Monday at the age of 86, turned his celebrity into a magnet for Italy’s forgotten everyman, gaining four stints as prime minister and forging an enduring political influence.
