Duke of Urbino — meet the Internet.
Florence-born oligarch Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici got into a bit of hot water after one of his Tweets gathered a bit more contempt than he may have initially schemed for.
The Tweet shows an image of the Duke surrounded by grateful and loyal vassals, with the text:
Just won the War of Urbino. Now am Duke!
Allies call me Prince though lol.
Now it’s time to pay my allies with won lands, while keeping my own money to myself.
#ImAPrince #RaisonDEtat #MartialSpirit #GoodCitizen #NoMercenaries
Whether it was a humblebrag or a genuine expression of self-centeredness and cruelty, the Tweet did not go over so well outside of Central Italy.
In fact, it even got Senator Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) attention, who accused the Duke of virtù-signalling.
Tweeted Ted:
This #virtù-signalling ‘prince’ isn’t the leader of a great city-state, so much as he is an embedded agent of the #DeepState.
#GuelphsRule #OwnTheGhibellines #OwnTheGhibs
Epic clapback, Ted!
But to this pwn, and every other pwn for that matter, Lorenzo has remained strangely silent.
Is he letting it blow over? Maybe.
But sources close to the Prince state that everything — including the backlash — is going precisely according to his plan.