On himself
De Berlusconi was prime minister three times and gave himself very flattering judgments on those periods. He described himself as ‘the right man at the right job’, stating that ‘only Napoleon has done more than me. But I’m definitely taller’.
Italy has a reputation as a political laboratory; major policy changes often happen there first. Berlusconi, in his own words, can be seen as a forerunner of Donald Trump. ‘I am the best political leader in Europe and in the world. There is no one on the world stage who can compete with me.”
Of his scandals and his private life
In addition to a career as a media mogul, soccer coach and politician, Berlusconi has had a dissolute private life. When allegations of escorts and “Bunga, bunga” parties circulated, Berlusconi admitted: “I’m not a saint, you all understood that.”
The powerful man of the Italian political right has made no secret of his private life. “When asked if they would like to have sex with me, 30 percent of women answered ‘Yes,’ while the other 70 percent answered, ‘What, again?’
On the judiciary with which he was regularly in conflict
He also resembles Trump in his relationship with the judiciary. After his prison sentence for tax fraud in August 2013, he said: “I was the victim of judicial harassment unprecedented in the civilian world.” He later said, with a sense of exaggeration, “I am undoubtedly the most persecuted person in all of the history of the world and in the history of man.”
“I am the Jesus Christ of politics”