Trump Loses Last Friend In Europe. No, Not Orbán. Meloni.
He lost Orbán a whole three days ago! Get with it.
Donald Trump attacked the pope again yesterday. (Evergreen statement at this point.) But this time was slightly different, because he seems to be trying to lose his only remaining (sort of) friend in all of Europe, the kinda weird, kinda fascistic leader of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, who really seems to be threading quite a needle these days between her authoritarian impulses and staying in Europe’s good graces.
You see, Giorgia Meloni is the prime minister of the country that encircles the tiny independent nation-state of Vatican City, where the pope lives and runs the Roman Catholic Church. As in Roman, as in of Rome. In Italy. You might have heard that Italy and a whole bunch of similarly positioned Mediterranean nations, and a whole lot of Europe in general, are pretty fuckin’ Catholic. So anybody could predict — as long as they are not an ignorant, self-centered, know-nothing dipshit who thinks they’re literally Doctor Jesus — that the prime minister OF ITALY might not think it’s so hot for people to be attacking the pope every single day.
But if you are Stupid Doctor Trump Jesus, you might not be bright enough to make that connection.
Trump was speaking to the Italian newspaper Corriere delle Sera, and whined that Meloni is “very different from what I thought,” and bellyached that she wouldn’t help him open the Strait of Hormuz, which he through his incompetence and stupidity managed to get closed.
Perhaps because he is senile and doesn’t understand things, he claimed of Meloni and Italy that “They pay the highest energy costs in the world and are not even ready to fight for the Strait of Hormuz ... They depend on Donald Trump to keep it open.” (It was, again, open before Trump decided to try to help.)
“I’m shocked by her. I thought she had courage. I was wrong,” he was quoted as saying in the Italian-language article.
And here is what he said about her harsh words for his constant attacks on the pope:
“She is the one who is unacceptable, because she does not care whether Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow Italy up in two minutes if it had the chance.”
What terrible words had she uttered to provoke such a pissy baby overreaction? In a statement on Monday, Meloni said, “I find President Trump’s remarks about the Holy Father unacceptable. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and proper that he call for peace and condemn all forms of war.”
Meloni also said this week, “I express my solidarity with Pope Leo, frankly I would not feel very comfortable in a society where religious leaders do what political leaders say.” (Yes, well, that’s the only society where weak-dicked fascists like Donald Trump and JD Vance do feel comfortable.)
Meanwhile, Trump, the stupidest man God ever expelled from His holy discard pile and accidentally sent to Earth, continued berating the pope yesterday, saying that “He doesn’t understand, and he shouldn’t be talking about war, because he has no idea what is actually happening. He doesn’t realize that, just last month, the regime in Iran killed 42,000 protesters.”
That’s right, the pope shouldn’t be talking about war, said Doctor Trump Jesus.
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It’s been a big week for Meloni with regard to the violently stupid war Benjamin Netanyahu convinced Trump to help him wage on Iran, something no previous American president had been braindead enough to go along with. Meloni announced that the Italian government won’t be renewing its defense agreement with Israel, “in view of the current situation.” This is something that usually renews automatically every five years. Not this time. Israel is upset, among other reasons, because the Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani criticized Israel’s “unacceptable attacks” on Lebanon.
This also comes after the Italian government refused to let the US use its Sigonella air base in Sicily as a staging or refueling ground for its efforts to explode little Iranian schoolgirls.
It turns out Italians hate Trump, and they hate his and Netanyahu’s stupid fucking war, and Meloni knows it. (And also would like to be re-elected in 18 months.) They also like the pope, as Foreign Minister Tajani explained on Twitter:
“And on Pope Leo XIV she said exactly what all of us Italians think. The prime minister and the government defend and will always defend only and solely the interests of Italy,” Tajani said.
So ciao, Donald Trump! It’s pretty clear from Meloni’s body language in literally any public appearance they’ve ever done together she personally thinks he’s gross, and always has.
We’ll close this post with these wise words from Jennifer Rubin this morning, about why Trump and his authoritarian regime are right to feel so threatened by Pope Leo. She compares him to Polish native son Pope John Paul II, and his role in ending communism there:
When a native son (Leo of America, John Paul II of Poland) expresses affection for and understanding of his countrymen in their native language during a time of the oppressive rule, the Pope can form an emotional bond that rises above politics. His message of faith, peace, and love reaches far beyond Catholic churches and compels people to focus on matters and values more profound and compelling than partisanship. A Pope in tune with his flock who promotes a values-based worldview can illuminate an autocrat’s smallness, meanness, and desperation.
As Catholics recall nearly fifty years later, Pope John Paul II’s visit to Poland in June 1979 helped ignite a movement that would upend the communist regime. The Pope’s visit attracted 11 million people (of a total 36M at the time) and “helped many Poles understand that they were not alone in their rejection of the regime.” Put differently, John Paul II helped Poles reconnect with their historic, religious, and patriotic roots, helping them to recognize communism as a foreign, transitory, and corrosive force. A year later, Solidarity formed in the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk to spearhead the anti-communist political movement.
The Polish example reminds us that autocrats resort to bullying, violence, and fear because they cannot obtain people’s affection. Through personal experience with a despotic regime, regular people (whether in Poland in the 1980s or Hungary and the U.S. today) eventually recognize the regime as exploitive, corrupt, and cruel.
Once unleashed, these forces can level tyrants who previously cultivated the aura of invincibility.
Read the whole thing.
Yeah, it’s been a real bad week for American tyrants.
We’re more confident every day that it only gets worse for them from here.
[Reuters / BBC / The Contrarian]
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I am in the Upside Down when I’m agreeing with Tucker, MTG, Candice fucking Owens, and now the Catholic Church.
Sorry, I couldn't resist . . .
“And look, President Trump, I know the Vatican has been critical of your policies, but you got to remember that at the end of the day, you and the Catholic Church both, both historically care deeply about the same thing: covering up sex scandals.” — Jon Stewart