In light of his now infamous article for Shukan Asahi about Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, former Yomiuri Shimbun reporter Shinichi Sano seems to aspire to membership in this club. Sano makes no attempt to hide his enmity toward Hashimoto, whom he characterizes as a small-hearted opportunist, a lawyer who spun a backstory of up-from-poverty success into a career as a shameless self-promoter and demagogue. He likens TV's fascination with Hashimoto to that of a cult in thrall to some charismatic charlatan, and in the tradition of the misanthropic press implies that the masses are stupid for showing anything but contempt for the mayor. He compares Hashimoto to another recent populist, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, but whereas Koizumi's statements and actions revealed "an antic belief system," Hashimoto's reveal nothing except "an animal compulsion" to be liked. As for his political supporters, Sano calls them "scavengers, scum."
What Hashimoto's accomplishment produced is "an intolerant personality" that "doesn't acknowledge opposition." For that reason alone, he is unfit for politics, because he cannot accept any criticism or inquiry into his personal life. Sano is telling the reader that the article itself is meant as an affront to Hashimoto, a test of his ability to stand up to the kind of scrutiny that people in the public eye have to address constantly. But rather than engage such scrutiny, Sano says, Hashimoto usually retires to Twitter and rants against his detractors "like a petulant child."
This guy is nothing more than an immature child masquerading as an adult who longs to be the Grand Pooba of Japan. He's one of those people who if given the power he seeks would be corrupted by it thereby becoming the authoritarian ruler he longs to be.
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