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After decisively losing a popular referendum last month, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been on the back foot, fighting to regain support before next year\u2019s general election.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump\u2019s verbal assault on her Tuesday may have given her a way back with voters she desperately needs. Trump on Tuesday slammed Meloni, his one-time political ally, deepening a rift over her opposition to the war in Iran and his attack on Pope Leo XIV \u2013 putting her on the right side of public opinion against an unpopular US leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeloni has been looking for an assist to distance herself from Trump, and this frontal attack gives her the chance,\u201d said Lorenzo Castellani, a researcher at Luiss University in Rome. \u201cAttacks on the pope and the economic uncertainty have likely subverted the calculus on whether an alliance with him is sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read: Pope Leo vows to continue Iran war critiques after Trump attacks<\/p>\n
Meloni isn\u2019t alone. In the wake of Viktor Orban\u2019s defeat in Hungary, even far-right parties are reassessing the political cost of being seen as too close to the mercurial US president. While MAGA\u2019s European allies share Trump anti-immigrant and nationalist bent, the war in Iran and the resulting economic shockwaves have prompted a reassessment of the political calculus.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor that kind of allegiance, you need rewards that the US doesn\u2019t want to offer anymore, such as predictability and a reliable security umbrella,\u201d said Beniamino Irdi, a former government official and head of consultancy Highground. \u201cBasically, it\u2019s full alignment or nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
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With the growth slowing and energy costs surging, the risk of aligning too closely with the US president may outweigh the potential upside. \u201cShe must speak to domestic public opinion before the economy worsens too much, otherwise she\u2019ll end up tied to Trump for good and that\u2019ll ruin her chances,\u201d Castellani added.<\/p>\n
Read: Trump attacks Pope for Iran war, immigration criticism<\/p>\n
Trump once sang the praises of Italy\u2019s first female premier by calling her a \u201cbeautiful young woman\u201d and by saying she had \u201ctaken Europe by storm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s remarks on Tuesday were a near-total reversal. \u201cI\u2019m shocked by her,\u201d he told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in a six-minute interview that was published in Italian. \u201cI thought she was brave, I was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meloni has tried to keep Trump on side, even if she and her staff were repeatedly taken aback by his tirades. In early 2025, her message was clear: Despite differences, the US and Europe had to continue to work together. The Italian premier sent a video message to Conservative Political Action Conference, making the case against tariffs by saying they would bolster the west\u2019s enemies.<\/p>\n
She travelled to Washington in April and drew abundant praise from Trump \u2013 Meloni was \u201cdoing a fantastic job\u201d and \u201ceveryone loves her and respects her. I can\u2019t say that of many people,\u201d he proclaimed.<\/p>\n
She left with little of substance \u2014 just a promise (that he kept through Vice President JD Vance) to meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Rome just as the bloc and the US were negotiating a trade deal.<\/p>\n
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Amid the empty promises and Trumpian tweets, she insisted that Italy should remain within the transatlantic framework.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this strategy wrong?\u201d she asked reporters in January. \u201cThen I must be shown the alternative, I must be told what we are to do. Must we distance ourselves in the sense of leaving NATO, closing the US bases, stopping trade, assaulting McDonald\u2019s restaurants? What are we to do?\u201d<\/p>\n
The alternatives may not be apparent, but the message has since changed with the war on Iran and Trump\u2019s verbal attacks on Pope Leo XIV two days ago. On Sunday, Trump attacked the pontiff, calling him \u201cWEAK on crime and terrible for Foreign Policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
After initially limiting herself to praising the pontiff\u2019s efforts for peace, she explicitly denounced Trump\u2019s words as \u201cunacceptable.\u201d That, coupled with her exit from a defense pact with Israel in rejection of the war, likely inflamed the relationship beyond the point of no return.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have allies and particularly when they are strategic you must have the courage to say you disagree,\u201d she told reporters Tuesday. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t feel comfortable in a society in which religious leaders do what they\u2019re told by political leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n
#Meloni #courting #Trump #seeks #gain #favour #Italians<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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