On video: Opening of Netanyahu's trial/editing: Itai Amram and Avihai Baruch
"This is an attack on all Americans," Trump responded to the new fine.
He and many of his foolish followers are sure that he is entitled, and they are the ones under attack.
Convinced that for a long time he is much bigger than himself.
Sound familiar?
no wonder.
He and Netanyahu, and several others like them, have upgraded themselves to the highest level of self-admiration.
They are truly convinced that there is a complete identity between them and the people.
Conventional wisdom claims that the attacks of the greedy duo on the watchdogs of democracy are a defensive tactic, made possible in the era of the populism of the democracies' dictators.
Maybe, but that doesn't explain everything.
How does the transition happen from a defendant with criminal personal interests, to a leader who is convinced that there is a unity of identity between him and the state?
And no less than that - what causes masses of voters and supporters to identify their interests with the whims of the supreme leader?
We have had megalomaniac leaders since time immemorial.
Pharaohs who believed they were gods, emperors who thought they were eternal, all-powerful kings and heads of state without limits and limitations.
The one who defined things with immodest eloquence was Louis XIV, King of France.
The "Sun King" inherited a shattered country as a child: financially bankrupt, exhausted by wars and torn by internal conflicts.
He reigned for 72 years, and left France to his heirs as the most powerful country in the world at that time.
In order to make this transformation, he concentrated in his hands the most political power, with priority to the monarchy over the parliament, and stated: "The state is me."
One can understand those who feel victimized, excluded and hurt - due to Israeli history or personal circumstances - and are looking for someone to help them bring down the establishment Bastille.
The cynical move of a political leader, who says "I am also a victim of the system, so let me represent you" is also understandable.
"I am also a victim of the system," the leader calls out to his voters - and they nod.
Netanyahu with Likud ministers during the trial, in 2020/official website, from the Prime Minister's Twitter
Psychologists will decipher the inflated ego.
Make-up and theater experts understand the significance of the strange hair and excessive make-up.
Organizational consultants will explain well the obsession with control, which stems entirely from the constant fear of losing control.
Many will agree that there is a close and fascinating connection between personal insecurity and the constant pursuit of power and greatness.
No wonder, therefore, that such leadership always hides behind a totalitarian ideology, which assumes that the state is the supreme body in the life of the nation.
How much more important than the individual, his rights and freedom.
And whoever stands at the head of the state - is the state.
He, like Netanyahu, has reached the highest level of self-admiration.
Former US President Donald Trump/Reuters
Others understand that politics is a tough business.
A daily struggle that is difficult to survive without knives, lies and betrayals.
President Roosevelt described the president of Nicaragua this way: "He may be a son of a bitch, but he is our son of a bitch."
The voter also says to himself: Netanyahu is not someone I would want in a son-in-law or in-law, but in the cynical and cruel world we live in, in politics where everyone is a thief, I want someone to be my thief.
I hope he takes care of me like he takes care of himself, that son of a ****.
Sometimes it's really personal.
A political leader is not one of the father of the nation.
Especially for the masses who were born into a reality where there is no one else.
"How will we manage without him?", "There is no substitute for him".
Not every father is perfect.
And yet, when there is a crisis, who do we turn to?
To the father we have.
And here is the loop.
This virtual father is a master of creating crises, real and imagined, and a master at offering to "be there for you", to defend against this crisis.
Such leaders are a complete childhood fairy tale;
They are victims like Little Red Riding Hood, predators like the wolf and heroes like the hunter.
Belonging to the revered leader is also belonging to the whole.
A demonstration against the legal revolution in Tel Aviv, last September/Reuven Castro
All that is needed to make this nightmare a reality is a sick combination of weak and weak opponents (and we have plenty of those), a lot of time to destroy all the alternatives - and motivation to preserve the existing, because any change can portend greater evils.
The feeling of the masses is that belonging to the revered leader is also belonging to the whole and to the community, which give them meaning and define their identity.
It will be many more years before the system is detoxified from the epidemic of Trump-bivism.
Until then, we will remember Hanoch Levin who quipped: "In Israel there are only three seasons - winter, summer and war".
And about such people he said: "All people, whether one year old, seventy years old, living or dead, need a father."
And father does choose.
The writer served as chairman of the Knesset and chairman of the Jewish Agency
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Benjamin Netanyahu
Donald Trump
incitement