Last week, Francesca Comencini–described in the New Yorker magazine as "the director of fourteen films, a mother of three children, and a political organizer"–woke up to something that wasn't an early Santa Claus. It was news that Donald Trump had been elected president of the United States!
New Yorker writer Ariel Levy hopes that American women can employ the kind of activism against Donald Trump that Ms. Comencini used against former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
In fact, as the title of the article–"Can Women Bring Down Trump?"--implies, Ms. Levy has high hopes for the sort of "impassioned demonstrations that stretched through cities and villages all across Italy" directed at Berlusconi will damage the incoming administration. Levy writes:
Comencini hopes that Berlusconi and Trump may end up having something else in common: a downfall catalyzed by women. Berlusconi resigned nine months after her group, Se Non Ora, Quando (If Not Now, When), held its demonstrations, which attracted more than a million people. “We want a country in which it’s possible for women to live in dignity!” Susanna Camusso, the first female leader of Italy’s largest labor union, shouted in the Piazza del Popolo, where hundreds of thousands of protesters held a “group scream.”
“The rally was friendly, cool—like a rock concert,” Cristina, a novelist and director, said. Like Trump, Berlusconi was a skilled manipulator of the media, with a keen sense of what messages resonate with his countrymen. The Comencinis strove to battle him with imagery as much as with ideology. They enlisted the Italian actress Angela Finocchiaro to make a video appeal to the nation’s men, asking them to “tell the world you don’t want to live in a bad fifties movie.” They framed sexism and misogyny as not just wrong but lame.
Yeah, I want to see all the women of America unite into one big rock concert, forgetting about economic policies, national defense, or anything else but having a good time being "friendly" (but not to everyone!) and "cool."
She's right that Donald Trump (she calls him Pussy Grabber-in-Chief) has said vulgar things, and many of us who are optimistic about the future, were horrified by such remarks. But, as Mrs. Clinton found out in the last days of her campaign, relying almost solely on the Nasty Boy theme, many Americans overlook this for what they obviously see as a shot at a better future.
Nowhere in Ms. Levy's article does she give any indication that policies, the economy, or travails such as unemployment intrude into her consciousness. The self-approval and solipsism are overpowering:
“We were attractive and modern,” Francesca said. The sisters have a suggestion for their American counterparts as they prepare for the Million Women’s March on Washington, the day after Trump’s inauguration. “Do not make something against him, but communicate the idea that women are the nation,” Cristina said. “This is strength—it’s there, it’s something that he has to face.”
Wow. Glad that all these women find themselves so attractive.
And by the way, women are the nation–along with men, and I have a hunch that Ms. Levy's eagerness to divide us will fail.