One person has united Italy across the political spectrum

One person has temporarily united Italy across the political spectrum. It was on a government plane somewhere between Verona and Rome that Itay's PM Giorgia Meloni learned that US President Donald Trump had called her "unacceptable". Her aides had flagged an interview the US president had given to Corriere della Sera published on April 14. She read it. Then, according to the Italian daily's account, the far-right PM settled on a line she had already used that afternoon: "Being allies does not mean there are no red lines, and it certainly does not mean being vassals or subjects." Trump had been blunt. "I'm shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong," he said in the Corriere interview. His grievances were twofold: Meloni's refusal to back the US-led war on Iran and her condemnation of his attacks on Pope Leo XIV as "unacceptable". “She is the one who is unacceptable,” Trump added, “because she doesn’t care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if it had the chance”. The dispute also comes against the backdrop of Rome’s decision to suspend the renewal of a defence cooperation agreement with Israel, further fuelling tensions. The exchange sent shockwaves across Italian political life, though not quite in the direction Trump may have intended. The front pages the following morning told the story of a rare political consensus. La Repubblica described the moment as one of Italian unity, framing Meloni's pushback as a "new Maginot line" against what it called the "unpredictable man occupying the White House". Il Giornale, on the right of the spectrum, celebrated an "Italy first" stance. Caption from article by Mehdi Bouzouina, France 24.