Is there any parallel in history where a leader is so charming that he develops a zombie like loyalty among his followers, despite the fact that he is a known liar, cheater, philanderer, narcissist, convicted felon, and con artist?

Jean-Marie Valheur

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lover of historyJun 2

Is there any parallel in history where a leader is so charming that he develops a zombie like loyalty among his followers, despite the fact that he is a known liar, cheater, philanderer, narcissist, convicted felon, and con artist?

Oh, definitely. America isn’t so ahead of the curve — the Philippines did it first! Ferdinand Marcos was his name. Like Trump, he was married to a glamorous former model, Imelda Marcos. And Marcos, too, was a convicted felon. Only in his case the charge wasn’t financial in nature… Ferdinand Marcos was a murderer. As a teenager he assassinated his father’s political rival, Julio Nalundasan.

Surely that would be the end of Mr. Marcos, you’d think? Not at all — he was jailed, studied law while in prison and eventually walked free. During WWII, Marcos served as a resistance fighter against the Japanese occupying forces. Unlike “Sargeant Bonespurs”, Ferdinand was a genuinely brave man. He was also a notorious liar, because he later falsely claimed to have served the American army and received a Medal of Honor… he didn’t; he served with a rag-tag band of outlaws, waging guerilla warfare on the Japanese.

As for the rest of your question? Yes, Marcos was a philanderer — he had a common-law wife and four kids before he met model Imelda. He abandoned her, and then gave his children by Imelda the same names(!) as his first batch of kids. Narcissist seems to fit the bill, too. Marcos was a con artist in the sense that he created a lot of myths about himself. Like the Medal of Honor he never won. Or the rumor that he supposedly found “Yamashita’s Gold”, a mythical treasure of gold lost by the fleeing Japanese upon the surrender of the Imperial Army. His heavily embellished war record helped carry him to presidency, and once he assumed power he declared a state of emergency that allowed him to stay in power for two decades as a dictator.

Marcos died in 1989, exiled to Hawaii, disgraced and overthrown by his own people in a revolt. And while the city-dwelling elites of the Philippines turned against him and removed him from power, the name Marcos remained popular in the provinces. In 2022, his son Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Junior was elected President. All he had to do was be his father’s son. His last name was all it took. Everyone endlessly talks about Trump but Marcos is a far more compelling figure to study… and if history does repeat itself, America may one day elect another Junior.