Bunga bunga

Oh, yeah, yeah.

And, and his Bunga Bunga parties.

[laughs] I guess he was kind of a Donald Trump, too.

Um, yeah.

You know, you talk about, uh, Beppe Grillo as an example of that, and it's kind of this sort of comedian, clownish, right-wing nationalist type, and I don't know if that's Tucker [laughs] for, for, like, straining these, uh, metaphors, but, um, you know, I'm just curious, like, how that, like, developed and, you know, in these sorts of relationships, there's always a question of, like, who's using who, you know? And, um, was Berlusconi using the nationalists to kind of maintain a more stable power or kind of the other way around, and, and then kind of take us from there to, to Meloni.

Yeah, so th- this sort of populist surge that starts, um, around 2010 is in a way in response to Berlusconi, right? Because there's a zillion trials, the corruption is, you know, pretty apparent, um, and this is the time also of Bunga Bunga, I don't know if you remember, which was this wild sex scandal where, um-

Yes

...

She was murdered supposedly in 2019.

This is another mysterious death to the Bunga Bunga elite parties in Italy involving Berlusconi who just passed away.

The title of this is Mysterious Death of Bunga Bunga Party Model has come back to haunt former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Her name is Iman Fadil.

Fadil died in a hospital in Milan after telling her lawyer and a friend she might have been poisoned.

Moroccan model at Berlusconi's Bunga Bunga Parties dies after poisoning.

I think this is a different one.

Maybe that's her.

Cow, Cow of Bunga.

Like, uh, Berlusconi Bunga Bunga.

Yes.

His Bunga Bunga parties.

His, his Bungov.

Yeah.

What's...

Where's that name from, for him?

We'll also be exploring these themes through the BungaCast Reading Club, through a selection of classic essays, book chapters, films, and academic articles.

If you sense history accelerating but feel that we have no control over events, then join us as we try to find political clarity to move beyond the decadent age of Bunga Bunga.

Done.

Some bunga bunga.

It's going down after that.

Some bunga bunga.

It's going down 100%.

After that.

Bunga bunga.

Yes.

She was then able to then deftly sidestep Silvio Berlusconi's, um, rather undignified political collapse in 2011.

He resigned from government amid an Italian credit crisis, but also after a series of revelations about his Bunga Bunga parties, which led to him being f- fairly ridiculed in Italy, but around the world.

Those Bunga Bunga parties, of course, involved very late night parties in the basement of, um, Berlusconi's villa near Milan, involving scores of scantily clad girls, s- many of whom worked on his TV network.

He denied any, any wrongdoing.

Really was an international sex scandal, but she, she somehow comes out of that okay.

And he also said something interesting, which was that, uh, if you send her a message, she will respond immediately.

And he said that it gives an idea of kind of how, how on the ball she is and able to react very quickly to new situations.

How does Italy view her as a female prime minister? You talked about how the, the political backdrop that she came up in, that included the Berlusconi years, the Bunga Bunga parties, the sex scandals.