You chose: politics

Why are so many Americans of Italian descent leaning rightward toward the candidacy of Donald J. Trump for the most powerful position in the world --- the Presidency of the United States of America? It's one of the many things about Italian Americans that makes little sense to most people, including other full and half-Italian Americans. What follows are some pretty solid speculations, and a reminder of the left-leaning history of Italian American political history.

Donald trumping all in the Republican race is only possible thanks to an undemocratic system. Disguised in the public eye as the ultimate democratic institution, the primaries actually tend to impose minority decisions, nullify political parties, and ultimately destroy democracy and accountability as we know them. These problems are peculiarly American. They are hardly found in other Western democracies in Europe, Canada or Australia.

Italian American politicians adhere to a corollary given by the 6th century BCE Chinese general Sun Tzu who wrote the Art of War. It was uttered by Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974): "My father taught me many things here — he taught me in this room. He taught me — keep your friends close but your enemies closer." My mother-in-law Rose Jordan-Nicoletti’s version of this Italian American proverb was “Don’t apologize! Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it.”