It was the early seventies in Providence, Rhode Island. A city hit hard by the financial downturn of the era and a time in which movies like The Godfather more fully fleshed out the vices and evils of organized crime under what was popularly known as the mafia.
It was in this atmosphere that an Italian-American Rhode Islander rose to political prominence to attain his first political office as an outsider elected as Mayor of Providence with a mission to clean up corruption and root out cronyism. Basically, in a sense, he was elected to Make Providence Great Again.
This is the tale, much in the vein of a Once Upon a Time story, of the notorious Vincent "Buddy" Cianci.
For the next 50 years, Buddy Cianci would capture the hearts and minds of thousands of Rhode Islanders and, due in part to his headline-grabbing, jaw-dropping legacy, his exploits would in fact be extolled nationwide.
Buddy loved the spotlight. No, I mean really, he freaking LOVED the spotlight. Every chance he got to get mentioned in the newspapers, on radio, and on TV, he thrived for it. And it didn't have to be all good.
Combine the fact of his media-whore attitude with his decidedly colorful personal life and proclivities to dabble on the gray side of the law and well, before long, you have a personality that the news media jumped on like Puerto Ricans hearing that flan was added to the table for dessert. (Off topic side note: This last bit, by the way, is based on my own personal observation of a potluck at Symantec when somebody brought out flan and all the Puerto Rican girls practically threw people out of their way to get to it.)
After almost 10 years in office, during this first stint, it came to light that Buddy had committed assault, apparently with a log from a fireplace, on a guy he claimed was having an affair with his wife he pled no contest and subsequently was forced to resign from office as this earned him a felony. He got probation and no doubt had to pay restitution to the victim, but losing office was his most severe punishment.
But it didn't detract his supporters. They continued to love Mayor Buddy. And he continued to entertain them and rile them up over the next few years as a radio talk show host and frequent TV personality. By the beginning of the '90s, he won back his seat in City Hall and oversaw what many proclaimed was Providence's Renaissance.
Buddy's popularity was unstoppable. He came out with his own pasta sauce brand. He even had a junior high school named after him, well, kind of, it was in a popular new prime time TV cartoon called The Family Guy.
But old felonies die hard. Always one to be looking to make a buck or two as a side hustle, it wasn't long, shortly before the commencement of a new millennium, that he was under investigation by the FBI in an operation called Plunder Dome for multiple counts of fraud, racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, and witness tampering. So in 2001, he was convicted again on felony charges. This time federal and this time with a prison sentence. If it weren't for his prison sentence, this time 'round he might have been able to hold on to his job. You see, sometime during this tenure, the Providence City Council somehow struck down the rule regarding a prohibition against a felon holding elected office.
After a four-year stint in federal prison, Buddy again took to the airwaves of radio and TV as a popular host and commentator. His popularity, now well ensconced in the realm of infamy, prompted him to run yet again for Mayor of Providence in 2014. He likely only lost this re-election bid due to a new more woke generation weary of bombastic boomer white-guy personality cults such as his and, of course his questionable health due to his ongoing battle with colon cancer.
Buddy lost his battle with the Big C in 2016 at the age of 74. He was given, for the first time since 1886, a state funeral with an open casket review as his body lie in honor at the Providence City Hall for thousands of mourners.
Such is the Saga of Buddy.
Now does any of this sound a bit familiar?
A larger than life personality, running for political office as an outsider vying to clean up corruption and to regain a nostalgic prominence and prestige of not only his office but also the political landscape he was elected to govern. A Republican, but not in the traditional sense, often having viewpoints and a platform that varied greatly from many others in the party. A bombastic and sensationalist personality that sought out controversy and garnered fans and foes alike over his highly-opinionated views and over-the-top, loudly-extolled talking points. A master of manipulating the media. Embroiled in scandal regarding both his personal life and professional ethics over the course of multiple decades.
I'm not the first to point out these similarities between Buddy Cianci and Donald Trump.
Here's an article from The Huffington Post written shortly after Buddy's death and just before Trump secured the nomination for what ultimately would be his triumphant and surprising win of the presidency in 2016.
What's most prescient for this year though is to look back at the re-election of Buddy after so many people pointed to his past transgressions and said "How can you re-elect this guy?" yet the fanatical Buddy Lovers put him back in office. And even though, as evidenced by his second conviction and loss of his position, he was most definitely a bad choice, his loyal fans still ardently believed in him to the day he died.
Do you really think there's much of a difference? Don't you think that it's entirely possible, in fact perhaps even probable, that what happened in little old Rhode Island will happen in our time nationwide?