Trump and Meloni: from favorite ally to contempt

Does Trump despise Meloni? The magnate's shift on the European right

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, for months considered Donald Trump's most reliable ally in Europe, has reportedly fallen out of favor with the former US president. According to analyses circulating in strategic circles, Trump considers her a 'bluff' and has expressed contempt for her in private, a shift that has unsettled those who saw her as the bridge between Washington and the European right.

The shadow of the Aspen meeting, where Meloni is said to have accepted commitments that watered down her electoral program, hangs over this estrangement. Barely a year after winning the elections on a sovereigntist platform, the Italian leader is said to have bowed to Brussels' interests, defusing her most radical promises. For the hard wing of Trumpism, that makes her a 'traitor' sold out to globalism.

At the same time, the perception of Trump as a ruthless negotiator is cracking. Those who once admired him for his pragmatism now detect a drift toward 'Biden-like foolishness', an inconsistency that leads him to disparage allies while failing to stop the attacks on the Kremlin's refineries. His image of strength is fading.

On the geopolitical chessboard, some analysts argue that Trump antiestéticars Europe as the only rival capable of challenging US hegemony. Hence his strategy of dividing and weakening European leaders, even friendly ones. Meloni would be a collateral victim of that calculation.

What remains of the transatlantic alliance when the leader of the global right despises his main European champion? Time will tell whether this rift is temporary or the prelude to a realignment.