Meloni and Trump: A very public fall-out that is proving very hard to fix

Meloni and Trump: A very public fall-out that is proving very hard to fixImage source, EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockImage caption, Relations between Italy's prime minister and President Trump have worsened considerably since 2025ByDavide GhiglioneIn RomePublished6 minutes agoThere is an AI-generated meme doing the rounds on social media in Italy that shows Giorgia Meloni doing all the things you might expect from someone fresh out of a tough break-up. In one fake photo she has a new haircut; in others she is imagined booking herself on a singles' holiday, training for a marathon and creating a profile on a dating app.Of course none of the images are real, but the joke has landed because it captures the very public political fall-out between the Italian prime minister and US President Donald Trump.Their relationship has over the past few months gone from public attacks to personal insults and back again, cooling what used to be one of the most watched alliances in European politics. It was not that long ago that Meloni was being called the "Trump whisperer", and she was the only European leader with a front-row seat at his January 2025 inauguration.Image source, ReutersLast April, she was also the EU leader of choice to head to the White House for a meeting aimed at easing tensions over US tariffs on European goods.For someone who started out on the fringes of Italian politics, with her roots in Italy's post-fascist tradition, and who has spent years trying to rebrand herself as a moderate, credible face of the European right, that closeness to Trump was never just seen by observers as a useful diplomatic tie.It was proof, on the biggest stage available, that she belonged there.But Trump's unpredictability has proved difficult for Meloni to handle, denting her credibility both nationally and internationally. The first real fracture came in late March, when Italy's defence ministry refused to let US military aircraft bound for the Middle...