The row between Donald Trump and Giorgia Meloni reached a new ebb after the former took to social media to double down on his claims Italy’s PM begged to have a picture with himMeloni was once considered one of Trump’s top allies in Europe(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Donald Trump has lashed out at Italian PM Giorgia Meloni after she accused him of making up a story about her.The feud started when the US president told an Italian broadcaster that Meloni “begged him to take a picture with her”. Sparking the latest public row with an American ally, Trump insisted: “She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her.”A furious Meloni hit back, saying she was “astonished”, adding: “I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves like this towards his allies.”Now, and in typical Trumpian fashion, the American leader took to his personal Truth Social media website to round on his Italian counterpart.Trump and Ms Meloni during the summit(Image: Palazzo Chigi press office/AFP via Getty Images)”Italian Prime Minister Gigiorgia [sic] Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France,” Trump claimed.”She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon (But so did NATO, for that matter!).”She wouldn’t even let us use Italy’s landing strips or runways, a great logistical inconvenience, and this despite the fact the U.S. contributes hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year to protect Italy, and other “so-called” NATO Allies.”Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her ‘numbers up.’ No thanks!!! President DJT.”Trump is known for publicly criticising America’s friends(Image: Sintesi/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock)Trump is known for publicly criticising America’s friends. Since his second term, he has compared Sir Keir Starmer’s refusal to join the US’ war on Iran to Neville Chamberlain’s pursuit of appeasement, repeatedly threatened to annex Greenland and slapped tariffs on allies.The rowTrump had made the comments in an interview broadcast on Friday morning on the La7 network. It led to the Italian government condemning Trump and Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani abruptly cancelled a planned trip to the United States this weekend, calling Trump’s claims “serious and offensive” toward Ms Meloni and all of Italy.The La7 correspondent had asked Trump about Ukraine, but Trump raised Ms Meloni and the conversation turned to their meeting, caught on video, the just-concluded G7 meeting in Evian-les-Bains, France.Ms Meloni and Trump were filmed speaking at several points, including alone on a small sofa.According to La7, Trump said Ms Meloni had “begged” him for a photo-op. Trump said he was not obliged to do it but that he felt sorry for her and agreed, La7 said.The broadcaster has a dubbed version of the conversation online, not the original English audio.In her video, Ms Meloni said she was responding to Trump’s claims because “certain things deserve an immediate response”.“I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves this way toward his own allies. After all, this isn’t the first time this has happened.”It was an apparent reference to an interview Trump gave to Italian daily Corriere della Sera in April in which he criticised Ms Meloni’s refusal to back the US-Israel war in Iran.Ms Meloni did not respond publicly at the time. But by Friday, it appeared she had had enough of his boasts and broadsides.“I can only say that it’s a shame he doesn’t show the same resolve toward the enemies of the West, toward the enemies of the United States — toward leaders with whom he, on the other hand, is much more accommodating,” Ms Meloni said Friday.“But there’s one thing he must remember: Italy and I do not beg.”Ms Meloni had initially sought to build on longstanding strong US-Italian ties when Trump began his second mandate, and had positioned herself as a “bridge” between Washington and the European Union.She was the lone EU head of state to attend his inauguration.But relations have frayed over the US war in Iran, which Ms Meloni has said was illegal, and Trump’s position on Ukraine, which Italy strongly supports.Trump’s tariffs and strong US support of Israel over its war in Gaza have been other points of contention.In addition to Ms Meloni and Mr Tajani, Italy’s defence minister Guido Crosetto also rebuked Trump’s claims, saying he did not believe Ms Meloni would ever beg someone for a photo, “not even under threat”.“I can, however, imagine how much it cost her to set aside what Trump had said weeks ago, to serve the interests of Italy, of Europe, and of the West,” Mr Crosetto posted on X.“Jokes of this kind do no good to anyone: neither to the USA, nor to Italy, nor to the alliance.”
