A number of writers and political commentators considered Berlusconi’s political success a precedent for the 2016 United States presidential election of real estate tycoon Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States,[250][251][252] with most citing Berlusconi’s panned prime ministerial tenure and therefore making the comparison in dismay. Roger Cohen of The New York Times wrote: “Widely ridiculed, endlessly written about, long unscathed by his evident misogyny and diverse legal travails, Berlusconi proved a Teflon politician … Nobody who knows Berlusconi and has watched the rise and rise of Donald Trump can fail to be struck by the parallels.”[253] In The Daily Beast, Barbie Latza Nadeau wrote: “If Americans are wondering just what a Trump presidency would look like, they only need to look at the traumatized remains of Italy after Berlusconi had his way.”[254] During the 2016 United States election, Politico described Berlusconi as the closest parallel to Trump in a historical world leader.[255] In a piece written for Slate and published in April 2017, Lorenzo Newman noted the similarities in the career trajectories between the two.[256]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Berlusconi#Comparisons_to_other_leaders