On the one hand, the next great dictator giving an interview to a BBC documentary is unlikely, unless he has decided to retire and pass the mantle along after a decade or so in power. On the other, he is probably the most qualified person to assume leadership, especially if Mussolini kicks the bucket while there's a war on. Unless maybe Balbo is pretty much at the front when the big guy croaks and Ciano (or someone else?) steps into the Duce role while Balbo is busy.
An interesting prospect might be if while the top fascists are either busy with the war or busy squabbling, Prince Amedeo 'temporarily' assumed the position of Duce. He does have his competent handling of Ethiopia and his military hero father's reputation to stand on.
Edit:
My two cents on the 'America is getting off lightly' topic is thus: To me, what matters is the internal consistency and believability of this timeline. One might look at the devastation wrought in Slovenia, China or Poland, the partition of Japan and the even worse terror wrought by stalinism across the soviet bloc and conclude from that that the USA is doing great.
However, the fascist powers are doing far better in this timeline than in any other I have read, this after all being an Italy-wank. India might have had a more bloody decolonisation, but from the looks of things they will build on it, their close ties with the west in general and the British empire (the negative feelings the Indians would have towards the British ameliorated greatly by Operation Atman) to take the place China did OTL, as the power due to rise to the top in the 21st century. Britain is doing slightly better, not as economically ruined by the war as the OTL Britscrew, allowed to decolonize at their own pace and it appears retaining a larger commonwealth. France is more or less on par.
The USA is doing somwhat worse than OTL - aside from the bloodier if earlier civil rights issue, they were not able to get their hands on as much of the economic possessions of the colonial powers, carrying the fiscal burden for many of the post-colonial conflicts and bleeding great buckets of blood in China to defeat Mao. Their international diplomatic prestige is still low, although after Patton the prestige and apparent competence of the American military will probably be far above any point in OTL. They have far less soft power, but at this point only the most insane of people would want to be on the other side in any war. I am sure there are other countries in this timeline who, with all the changes weighed in the balance, are doing only slightly worse, like the USA.
