&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Trump doubles down on Giorgia Meloni saying she was a ‘big fan’ but he 'doesn't want her'")
US President Donald Trump continued with his feud with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as he doubled down on her, calling her a kind of "big fan", the kind which he does not want. Earlier in the week, the pair engaged in a bout when Trump said that Meloni “begged” for a picture with him at the G7 summit. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni responded by saying that she and Italy never “beg”.
In a phone call with NBC News, Trump said, “She was a big fan.” He added, “But I don’t want her as a fan because she was not there — along with the NATO group — having to do with the strait.”
US President Donald Trump had been growing publicly frustrated with the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Video footage from the G7 shows Trump and Meloni having a one-on-one conversation on the sofa. But Trump portrayed the interaction as something he had granted rather than sought out. “She’s probably happy I talked to her. I didn’t have to talk to her,” Trump told La7 after bringing up the topic of the Italian Prime Minister himself. The right-leaning Italian politician has been one of his closest political friends on the international stage. She was the only European leader to attend Trump's inauguration in January 2025.
The relationship soured after the Italian Prime Minister, along with other European leader denied to rescue Trump's adventure in Iran and the resulting closure of the Strait of Hormuz. It further deteriorated when Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV for being too liberal and condemning the Iran war. Trump suggested that he should be thankful as “he wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American." But on Friday, Giorgia Meloni seemed to have had enough of Trump; she lashed out, saying “Italy and I never beg,” adding that he treats longtime Western allies with less respect than he shows their adversaries.
