Good morning! They say that a leader is born or made. Milojko Spajic, it seems, believes that a leader can be invented. Without reading Gramsci, without consulting a marketing guru, without having read a single page of political theory – the Prime Minister of Montenegro probably intuitively understood the essence of Gramsci’s “Prince”. To survive in the Montenegrin political confusion, you have to become a candle in the hall of mirrors. And that every mirror – every voter – whatever its shape and constitution-projects in you what it wants to see and hear.
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Spajic in the Hall of Mirrors
This is not a bad tactic. On the contrary, it is tried and effective. But it is also dangerous, especially if it is not detailed and well-planned. Because to last as an illusion, you have to have at least some real deliveries. And Spajic, for now, only has reflections.
His politics are the projection of a narcissist. Spajic likes to seduce. He has transferred his self-love to politics, and he doesn’t hide it: he often seems to enjoy his own image more than concrete results. And the image demands attention, adoration, and approval. That’s why Spajic tries to be everything to everyone: both nationally neutral and pro-Western, and a friend of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and a fighter against organized crime, and a man who knows “what the people are looking for”, and one who comes from the crypto and start-up world.
The problem is that our politics is a hard field. And when you stretch yourself too wide, you let everyone down and hit your head on the concrete. So today, not so far from the beginning of his mandate, Spajic’s promises sound more fantastic and incredible than ever. Recently, DPS supporter @KonteZanovic on the X network has made a series of reminders of all Spajic’s unfulfilled promises.
And indeed, if we were to add up all Spajic’s announcements, Montenegro should have already had a tax haven, a technological boom, the return of emigrants, cheaper fuel, political peace, a reformed judiciary and a functional system. Instead, we have a decline in confidence in PES, an increase in the power of its retrograde partners and more and more people turning their backs on it – both among voters and cadres.
An additional problem is ideological confusion. At the same time, Spajic is fascinated by Donald Trump and wants to get along well with European leaders. He likes the libertarian dimension of Trump’s politics. But what he fails to realise is that Trump’s populism is based on raw energy, dominance, and the physical display of power. At nearly 80 years old, Trump is manly aggressive and doesn’t give a damn about what his opponents have to say – and that’s why he works in his base. And this is possible because more than half of the electorate and Congress are behind him.
Spajic, on the other hand, tries to be a Latin Casanova, silky, sophisticated, seductive. In patriarchal, harsh, toxically masculine Montenegro, such a story does not hold water. It’s not a local hero aesthetic. It is an aesthetic misunderstanding. At the same time, if he has 20% support in the electorate – it is good.
If he doesn’t get it, he will end up like Zuckerberg in the Octagon – ridiculous, wrongly dressed, with an illusion of strength that crumbles at the first punch.
The window of opportunity, the time of power, which he now possesses, should be used for concrete deliveries, and not for building a shaky image. Because when the shine disappears and the star of happiness stops twinkling, only the harsh grey reality remains. And it can be brutal. Especially for those who believed that politics is all about charm.
That’s it for today. We wish you a pleasant rest of the day.
Kind regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst and columnist
(Columnists’ opinions and views are not necessarily those of the CdM editorial staff)
