Subject: Trump - Meloni fallout
… after Meloni, rather populist herself, had made efforts to be in his good books:

Italian foreign minister cancels trip to US over Trump’s comments about Meloni

In an interview with Italy’s La7 TV, Trump claimed Meloni had “begged” him for a photo at the summit, and he obliged because he felt sorry for her, according to a dubbed Italian translation posted by the outlet.

“She begged me to take a picture with her. She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for ‌her,” he said.

Meloni refuted the comments in a sharply worded video posted on Friday morning, saying they deserved “an immediate response.” “I can only say that it’s a shame he doesn’t have the same determination with the enemies of the West, with the enemies of the United States, with leaderships with which he instead appears much more accommodating,” she continued. …

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/0...