Giorgia Meloni, Trump's Friend in Europe, Seeks Distance on Iran

[Prairie Gates]

Source: The New York Times

During a visit to the White House last year, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy bonded with President Trump over their shared opposition to “woke” ideologies and migration. After the meeting, Ms. Meloni, the only sitting European leader to attend Mr. Trump’s second presidential inauguration, said she was proud of their “privileged relationship.”

Now, as an American war with Iran causes economic pain throughout Europe, Ms. Meloni’s once vaunted friendship with Mr. Trump is proving to be a liability, just as she is seeking to win a tight referendum later this month over a contentious judicial change.

Ms. Meloni has led one of the longest and most stable governments in Italy’s tumultuous postwar history — and her party still outperforms its rivals in the national polls. Yet the war and her handling of it is raising some of the thorniest political challenges she has faced since entering office in 2022.

Critics have condemned her for failing to wield any visible influence over President Trump’s wartime decisions and for her ambivalent response to his decision to attack Iran.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/world/europe/meloni-trump-iran-italy.html

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I'll also note that the Israeli actions in Gaza are reviled in Italy, and the IDF murder of Father Pierre el-Rai in southern Lebanon is causing further outrage in Italy:

Fr. Pierre al-Rahi, also known by his French name Pierre el-Raï, had earlier refused, along with other priests, to obey an order by the Israeli military to evacuate the Christian village of Qlayaa, a Maronite village of some 8,000 inhabitants in the Marjayoun district, a few miles from the Israeli border.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/lebanese-maronite-catholic-priest-killed-israeli-tank-fire-southern-lebanon

[Prairie Gates]

1. To be fair, this is one of the funniest facts of the whole war:

While some European leaders received a courtesy call just before the attacks, the Italians were left unaware. Ms. Meloni’s defense minister, Guido Crosetto, was in Dubai for a family vacation and had to be evacuated by military plane.

Good job, Trumpies, and Meloni!

[BaronChocula]

2. Down with all that woke crap!

Compassion for others
Welcoming the stranger
Keeping allies informed

[FakeNoose]

3. In other words, Chump doesn't have any REAL friends

... just people who occasionally regard him as a useful idiot.

[Prairie Gates]

4. I think Meloni is going to lose patience with him

She is smarter than he is, and she keeps kissing his ass, and he keeps disrespecting her - threatening pasta tariffs and not telling her about the war, etc.

I don't like Meloni, but she's only going to put up with this for so long. When it begins really chipping away at her domestic power, she's going to cut him loose.