Italian-American relations have been thrown into chaos this week after a very public spat between Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. But as I wrote earlier this week, this is about much more than who asked who for a selfie. This was an abrupt change of strategy not just for Meloni, a former Trump ally, but for Europe as a whole. The far-right Italian primer minister is one of if not the most politically smart leaders we have in the EU right now, and she is without a doubt the most powerful woman in Europe. So the fact that she has chosen this moment to publicly break with Trump tells us a lot about the point of weakness the US president is now at following the Iran War debacle.
I talked about what the Meloni-Trump spat means for Europe, and whether other leaders will follow her in growing a spine, with Luke Johnson from the Public Sphere Substack. We also talked about the backstory behind the treaties governing the use of US bases in Europe, the context behind all this that was largely missing from a lot of the media coverage.
Meloni says Italy is sovereign. America doesn't seem to agree.
Until now, Sanchez has been the only European leader willing to stand up to Trump. Meloni changed the game this weekend by offering Europe's most blunt rebuke yet.
