I thought of some of the goofy Italian elections (including porn stars running for office) but this has resulted in something that looks more like it's out of one of the equatorial banana republics, with Trump trying to be a strongman instead of simply the president. (My apologies to the equatorial nations that don't have crackpot leaders).

And more to your point, I love the French philosophers and used Barthes a number of times in my philosophy and English theory classes. Thank for the link!