You could argue that the rise of Trump is not really anything new; Italy has had Berlusconi in politics since the early 90ies, and there are a lot of similarities:
Berlusconi: Has alleged links to the Mafia, owns most of the popular media in the country, regularly hosts orgies with suspiciously young looking girls, open to more than a little bribery...
I get the picture very much, having lived in Italy on and off over the past 15 years. You can say what you want about Berlusconi (and I regularly do), but you can't lay all the blame at his feet, either. Romano Prodi managed to beat him twice at the polls, despite all his media power. Those people are arguing for that decision with their own twisted logic and of their own volition.
For those who did not grow up like me in Berlusconi's Italy, he was an interesting character and in many ways a precursor of today's politics. When Trump came to rise, I felt many aspects were similar: both very rich entrepreneurs, arrogant personalities, a tendency to go against well established rules, personal attacks on opponents, an admiration for strongmen (Berlusconi had a clear crush on Putin), tax creativity, laws purposefully written for himself and his friends, and of course exploiting partisan news outlets. Berlusconi's career took a turn when he developed Mediaset to be a large TV company that could compete with national public TV, and still does, while offering a load of trash to the public. He was many times under investigation, sometimes convicted without ever going to jail, and many times exploiting the statute of limitations to avoid conviction by dragging the trial along for years.
His party was essentially founded upon him and his personality, and is currently one of the parties in the government coalition, with a relatively minor share, I expect voted by older people nostalgic of his era. We will not miss him -- but in hindsight we have seen even worse characters in the last 10 years.
What many people outside of Italy don't understand is how crazy the left side of politics in Italy was (and still is).
Italy had a looong period (that arguably hasn't ended yet) in which there were no good choices to vote for: either corrupt Berlusconi or Communists (who were also corrupt).
Meloni has so far been a pleasant surprise. I didn't have any positive expectations when she became PM but she seems to be doing ok.
The way things are in Berlusconi's Italy, I would not be surprised if this case is being kept alive by his friends to benefit his media companies which are undoubtedly pissed off at youtube.
Imagine if Rupert Murdoch became president of the US. That is, in a nutshell, the situation with Berluscony and Italy.
Funny fact, in 2013, Italy actually banned Silvio Berlusconi from holding public office for 6 years. But, that doesn't stop him from participating and trying to win elections anyways...
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