After presenting herself as a bridge between U.S. President Donald Trump and Europe, hard-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is suddenly at the forefront of the continent’s pushback against the U.S. leader following an extraordinary war of words between the two on social media.
It is a remarkable shift for Meloni, the only European head of government to attend Trump’s inauguration last year at the president’s invitation. The two share similar ultraconservative agendas, vowing to combat illegal immigration and defend what they see as the West’s Christian roots. Meloni had long touted her personal and political closeness to Trump, despite a growing list of differences between the United States and its European allies—on everything from tariffs to the U.S. push to acquire Greenland and the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran, which has sent global energy prices through the roof.
The spat has implications far beyond Italy, delivering a blow to the prospects of a far-right alliance spanning both sides of the Atlantic. It might also reshape political dynamics within the European Union by pushing Meloni closer to Brussels.
The row started in June, when Trump told an Italian journalist that Meloni had “begged” him to take a picture with her at a G-7 summit in France, to which she responded that “Italy and I never beg.”
