It’s unrealistic to think Donald Trump will learn any lessons from the war he launched in Iran, but one of the things the president should’ve gleaned from recent events is that there’s real value in having allies willing to partner with you during a crisis.

It’s a point that appears to have eluded the Republican, as he continues to alienate, offend, insult and exasperate countries that have been aligned with the United States for generations.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, however, was supposed to be an important exception to the trend. Of all the leaders in Western Europe, Meloni, one of the region’s most conservative figures, appeared well positioned as a natural Trump ally. Indeed, the American president has often singled her out for praise, celebrating Meloni as a “beautiful young woman” who took Europe “by storm.”

The Italian prime minister was the only European leader to attend his second inauguration early last year, on the heels of a Mar-a-Lago visit. Headlines that referred to Meloni as Europe’s “Trump whisperer” soon followed.

This week, however, the relationship appears to have collapsed. Reuters reported:

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ​lacks courage and has let Washington down, U.S. President Donald Trump told an Italian newspaper on Tuesday, delivering a ‌blunt public rebuke to one of his closest European allies.

Meloni had been a vociferous supporter of Trump, but she distanced herself from him after he went to war with Iran in February, and on Monday she openly criticized him for lashing out at Pope Leo, saying his verbal assault was ‘unacceptable.’

In an interview with Corriere della Sera, the Republican complained that Meloni is “very different from what I thought,” adding, “I’m shocked by her. I ⁠thought she had courage. I was wrong.”

Asked about her condemnation of his comments on Pope Leo XIV, Trump went on to say, “She is the one who is unacceptable, because she does not care whether Iran has a nuclear weapon and would ​blow Italy up in two minutes ​if it had the chance.”

His whining was difficult to take seriously, and not only because Iran was not close to having nuclear weapons. The war in Iran is very unpopular in Italy, while the pope enjoys broad support in the country, where nearly 4 in 5 residents describe themselves as Catholic. With Trump launching the war and repeatedly scolding the pontiff, it stood to reason that Italy’s prime minister, who has domestic political concerns of her own, would distance herself from the toxic American president.

Trump, however, apparently doesn’t care about such considerations: He saw Meloni’s mild criticisms, and so he lashed out at the Italian leader.

In his interview with the Italian newspaper, the Republican said he and the prime minister haven’t spoken “in a long time.” That apparently won’t change anytime soon.

The post Short on international allies, Trump nevertheless turns on Italy’s Meloni, too appeared first on MS NOW.

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