By Jeffrey Blehar
Friday, June 19, 2026
As everyone not living in Plato’s
cave already knows, the Iran war is “over” according to Donald Trump — this
statement may or may not be inoperative by the time this goes to press, who
knows — and in humiliating fashion: with the U.S. offering a series of concessions to Iran (to end a war that it
voluntarily started) which fail to even return the world to the status quo
ante. Rather, they leave us with nothing accomplished except the permanent
immiseration of the global economy and the catastrophic erosion of America’s
position in the Middle East and Asia as global enforcer of a fraying world
order.
Which makes the timing for this year’s annual G-7 meeting
auspicious, to say the least. Trump sure seemed eager to get this swiftly
unraveling farce of a deal done just in time for one of his favorite
gatherings, where he gets to rub shoulders with the leaders of the free world
as an equal and (in his mind) ringmaster. Trump champed so hard at the bit to
get an Iran “deal” done to reassure his peers at the G-7, held this year in
Évian, France, that he signed America’s official surrender in Versailles — apparently
after having been told that another famously pointless war ended there.
But at least one world leader at this year’s to-do did
not agree: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Meloni has long been known
for her proudly nationalistic conservative politics — there was at least a year
there when the media sought to convince the world she was a Putin pawn, despite
her unflinching support for Ukraine — and in that position has been labeled one
of Donald Trump’s strongest European supporters.
She wasn’t supporting him in Évian this week. There
already exists a compilation of “body
language” moments on YouTube, assembled by Italian media, exhibiting
Meloni’s remarkable bearing toward Trump at this year’s G-7. This
climaxed in a viral video of Meloni seemingly
upbraiding Trump (we cannot know the words), complete with animated hand
gestures.
Trump — acutely aware of his shame, whatever his public
averments — knew full well that the world was watching, so he did the same
thing he usually does. Referring to another tête-à-tête with her at the summit,
he blundered crassly in his attempt to play it off and
“bigfoot” her: “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.”
That is obviously not what happened. Trump is playing
strong for his MAGA audience — always a desperate spin — but the world isn’t
fooled. Nobody except Donald Trump thinks that other world leaders are
clamoring for a picture with him, but even he may know this deep down. His New
York/showbiz instincts to always play alpha and “never let ’em see ya sweat”
collided with the immovable, miserable reality of European reaction to his
geopolitical mistakes.
Meloni was having none of it. She went to social media
immediately after Trump’s comments went public. And now we have something more
than a mild G-7 gaffe. We have a serious diplomatic fracture with one of our
allies.
As all who have spent time among Italians and their
Mediterranean neighbors know, when they speak, 70 percent of meaning is
conveyed by their body language alone. The translation of Meloni’s response is
below. As for the way she delivered it? Watch
the video yourself. She lays the hammer down:
So, certain things
deserve an immediate response.
Donald Trump’s
statements are completely fabricated. I am frankly appalled. I don’t know why
the President of the United States behaves this way towards his allies; after
all, it’s not the first time it’s happened.
I can only say
it’s a pity that he doesn’t show the same determination with the enemies of the
West, with the enemies of the United States, with leaders towards whom he
instead proves to be much more accommodating.
But he must
remember one thing: Italy and I never beg.
First, brava. Though standing a good foot shorter than
some of her counterparts at the G-7, like German Chancellor Merz and President
Trump, she is possessed of a disarming affect. In an age when Italian prime
ministers have been perpetual figures of comedy (remember the “bunga bunga” parties of the incomparable lout Silvio
Berlusconi?), Meloni impresses as a serious figure of real ideological
conviction. In this sense — she will not be openly disrespected — she is
quintessentially Italian.
Second, the subtext is clear: Meloni, along with other
leaders at the G-7, is furious at the recklessness of Trump’s actions,
which undermine the European economy even as he dashes the very principles on
which American postwar hegemony has been stewarded for the past 75 years upon
the rocks of his own fickle vanities. Though they clearly mean little to Trump,
who regards the inherited advantages and alliances of the United States as toys
to arbitrarily dispose of as he so desires, those principles mean an enormous
amount to those who have historically counted on America to keep its word — or
at the very least not to act like an inconstant, spoiled child.
Final note: If you think Meloni seemed angry in this
video, realize she quit smoking recently. So she’s probably even angrier than
she looks.
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