BREAKING: Meloni fires back at Trump after he claims she “begged” for a photo
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni delivered a sharp public rebuke to Donald Trump on Saturday, refusing to let him rewrite the story of their G7 encounter or question her standing back home.
The clash started when Trump claimed in an interview that Meloni had begged him for a photo at the G7 Summit in France and suggested her popularity in Italy was slipping. Meloni was not interested in letting that stand.
“President Trump, these constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless,” she wrote in a message posted to Instagram. She made clear that her support among Italians has nothing to do with her relationship with the American president, writing that her popularity depends on her ability to defend Italy’s national interest, and that is exactly what she has always done.
Meloni also addressed the use of American military bases on Italian soil, a clear reference to her government’s decision earlier this year to deny the United States use of a Sicilian base for operations against Iran. She reminded Trump that those agreements are something Italy has always honored, and that they cannot be violated as long as she is prime minister, because Italy remains a sovereign nation.
She closed her message with a line that needed no further explanation, telling Trump that her popularity is none of his concern and suggesting he focus on his own, a pointed reference to polling that currently has his approval sitting at just 35 percent.
It was the latest escalation in a feud that began when Trump accused Meloni of begging for a photo with him, a claim she had already dismissed as completely fabricated days earlier. Italy’s Foreign Minister went so far as to cancel a planned trip to the United States over comments he called offensive to the entire country.
Through it all, Meloni did not flinch, did not walk it back, and did not let an American president dictate how she responds when attacked.
