Giuseppi between Pd primaries and referendums: the M5s leader aims to return to Palazzo Chigi amidst alliances, strategies and political contradictions
Sometimes you have to admit certain unforgivable shortcomings. They were sure that Giuseppe Conte, our former prime minister, would stay away from Palazzo Chigi. You don’t win the lottery twice, let alone three. Fate already seemed rather benevolent with the jurist from Volturara Appula, then at the consoling leadership of the disbanded Five Star Movement. Instead he returned. Like the Ercolino always standing, the misirizzi that Galbani gave to its most loyal customers. He conquered the center-left. And now he wants to return to where he had been incredibly hoisted.
Who would have thought? Galeotto was the referendum on justice. And obviously the lack of consistency of the future antagonist: Elly Schlein. The dazzling smile that the leader of the Democratic Party exhibits these days is not deceiving. For years it has begged for the benevolence of the former grillini, claiming its slogan: “Stubbornly united”. While the counting was underway, Giuseppi finally satisfied her: in the primaries! The people must decide who will challenge the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. And the authoritarian rules of the opponents will not be followed: whoever has one more vote becomes, if anything, prime minister. Oh, no: sincerely democrats prefer bloody preventive consultations. Would the Movement have half the Dem votes today? Quibbles. May the best win.
Everyone is crazy about Giuseppi. The polls crown him. Half of the Democratic Party is rooting for him, hoping to finally get Elly out of his way. The Vatican remembers its Jesuit past. Influential commentators even ask the secretary to wave the white flag: she surrenders her hands and feet, without offering resistance. Moreover, the newspapers have started to throb again for the lawyer from Foggia. Giuseppi superstar. He agitates the slaves, incites the South, promises rich prizes and cotillons. By now he enters the television studios as a conqueror: the proud look, the mocking grin, the pocket square of the good times. The rubbing hands, that curial and vaguely Andreottian tic, herald the recovery. Poor Schlein is relegated to unlikely hours, the cheerful Count dominates in prime time. Even Mediaset welcomes him benevolently: the hosts nudge him, the public pays forgotten honors. But the cathode triumph, clearly, is celebrated on La7. The redeemed is at home. He sits down like an old friend, asking the cameraman for the close-up: my eyes, please. The anti-government harangue begins. Moreover, it was the network of the exaggerated No. Nicola Gratteri, prosecutor of Naples and standard-bearer of the opposition, has his own little show. Marco Travaglio, director of the daily Fatto, is the most acclaimed guest.
They say: the Prosecutor’s Party will be born. It’s already there: the Five Stars have returned to their dawn. What better occasion than the battle between government and officials? Travaglio was the supreme mind. Giuseppi the most powerful arm. Il Fatto summed up: magistrates will be subjected to politics. The sheriff of Italy reiterated: they want to save the caste from investigations. The tattered banner, soiled by greed and laziness, flies again. They still say: the army of those against is not a majority. It can be done. But Giuseppi now knows who to titillate: the same platoon of angry people already called to arms in the name of the scarred Constitution, especially young people and southerners.
They are almost chronic abstentionists, the polls say. Perfect, reasons Count Giulivo. He really needs them to win the primaries. The paradox is striking: it was the Democratic Party who invented them. The current secretary won them, surprisingly, in February 2023. Other times. He had promised to get rid of “caciques and current leaders”. Nothing has changed. Now they are all there, ready to archive the naïf who escaped from the polling station. That fox Conte framed her. A duel on equal terms, at dawn on the moor. The skilled gunslinger and the naive recruit. Many powerful Dems object: why hand over the coalition to those who have always kept their distance? «First we need a political agreement on the contents» says former minister Andrea Orlando. «The primaries have become a game of current» adds the founder of the Ulivo, Romano Prodi. Even the award-winning couple Bonelli&Fratoianni moans: “I’m not a priority.”
Too late. Parcel, double parcel and counter-package. Only Silvia Salis, aggressive mayor of Genoa, could undermine him. But she was elected less than a year ago. Of course: the ambition remains unbridled, but the former hammer champion only competes to win. He knows that Conte has the advantage. This is why he takes his time: «Primaries divide, not unite». Meanwhile, he lets himself be surprised at lunch in the company of Dario Franceschini: the first to support Schlein, who the others considered a harmless social center leader. Now the puppeteer, whom the malevolent call “Judas”, would have already left Elly to her fate. He too, in the presence of adequate recognition, from the Quirinale downwards, could politely argue in favor of the people’s advocate. Like another great old man: the strategist Goffredo Bettini, who already theorized the wide field.
In short, for the now irrepressible support, not openly half of the Democratic Party: the reformists excluded, the Catholics ignored, the usual foxes. Giuseppi, therefore. Used items are unsafe. The past that passes through you. The unknown university professor. The chameleon who changed more clothes than Leopoldo Fregoli, who with his 800 costumes and 1,200 wigs said he could cover the entire Eiffel Tower. The final transformation is the Sheriff Count. There are not only summary trials on TV. On social media, the former prime minister wears the role of the tarantolato chastigatti. «Unseemly!». “Are we kidding?” «Very serious!». Accusations that are mixed with sensational tall tales, see the reintroduction of abuse of office in Italy on the recommendation of the European Council.
Don’t worry, however. The Jacobin, if necessary, will become a perfect Dorothean. Other than gay marriage and Elly’s euthanasia. May Catholics come to him, already a model student of Villa Nazareth, at the court of powerful ecclesiastics such as Cardinal Achille Silvestrini. Only to then turn into a die-hard pro Pal, to underline closeness to the young demonstrators and Islamic voters. After all, the (nickname) is a program: Giuseppi. On August 27, 2019, Donald Trump, in his first term, made a tweet that would become legendary: «It’s starting to look good for the highly respected Prime Minister of the Italian Republic, Giuseppi Conte» chirps the American president. «He represented Italy in a powerful way at the G7. He loves his country very much and works well with the USA. A very talented man, who I hope remains prime minister! Decisive hope. Count Two is born.
The involuntary mispronunciation becomes the mark of the wanderer. To underline that the Americans also put him back up there again. Years later, the Five Star leader disparaged Meloni for his relations with Trump. While waiting to hug the blond Caligula who drives the world crazy, she secretly meets Paolo Zampolli, “special envoy” of the White House. There is little to be surprised about. Did you previously support purchases of Russian gas? Now he has become an ardent pro Kiev. It’s Count Draghi: more pro-European than the king. Until opportunism separates them.
Everything and the opposite of everything. As always. Giuseppi wants to conquer the very wide field and then Italy. His exploits, however, remain unforgettable. Unbridled welfare, to win votes in the southern regions. The super bonus cost 131 billion, which devastated public finances. Wheelchairs and masks, shining emblems of improvident waste. To confirm his irrepressible ambitions, the book that retraces his epic journey will be released on 14 April: from nobody to twice prime minister. It’s called: A new spring. However, it would have been more appropriate to take inspiration from Meloni’s autobiography: Io sono Giuseppi.
