He Went to an Italian Newspaper to Tell Italy's Prime Minister She's Not Brave Enough

Alright. Coffee first. Sit down. I got one for you.

Giorgia Meloni is the Prime Minister of Italy. Conservative. Friend of the President. He has said nice things about her for years. Put her up on a big screen at that gala in Florida, called her a friend of America, the whole bit.

She declined to join the war on Iran. That’s it. That’s the whole offense. She did not send Italian troops to help the U.S. Navy park itself in the Strait of Hormuz. Didn’t say a word against him. Just didn’t sign up.

So what does he do? He sits down with an Italian newspaper — Corriere della Sera, which is basically their USA Today if USA Today was older than the country — and he tells the reporter, quote, “I thought she had courage, but I was wrong.”

In their paper. In Italian. To Italians. About their Prime Minister.

Honey, I don’t care if you like Meloni or you don’t. I don’t live in Italy. I live in a town where the biggest foreign policy decision is which brand of salsa to carry. But I know what it looks like when a man is trying to bully his friends into a fight. I’ve watched it happen at this counter a hundred times. Bubba orders a second beer, tells Earl he’s a wuss for not joining in, Earl goes home to his wife, Bubba goes home alone. Happens every Friday.

Except Bubba is not supposed to be in charge of aircraft carriers.

In the same week he said this, by the way, he also said the war is “very close to over” and the stock market “is going to boom.” So the war is almost done but he needs Italy to join it. The market is going to boom but gas might be higher. Iran is beaten, but we’re still blockading the Strait. All of it at the same time. All of it out loud.

And his own Senate — his own party — voted again to block a measure that would’ve made him come ask Congress before doing any of this. One Republican voted yes. Rand Paul. One. The rest decided the President should keep waging a war he started without asking anybody.

So Meloni didn’t join. That’s the thing that got her called a coward. Not the Senate. Not the House. Not the three branches of government. An Italian woman who said no thanks.

I’d pour her a coffee if she came in here. On the house.

You need anything else, sugar?