President Donald Trump continued his beef with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni by provoking her with a bizarre meme on Sunday.
Trump, 80, posted on Truth Social an edited photo of Meloni, 49, appearing to look upward at himself with the caption: “Restraining order needed,” implying that the right-wing Italian leader is obsessed with him.
The strange post was included among Sunday’s ridiculous post-July Fourth social media spree in which he shared over 100 times on Truth Social within eight hours.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump’s feud with Meloni, who was once a staunch supporter of the president, kicked off last month after he suggested that she was desperate to get a photo with him during the G7 summit in France.
“She’s probably happy I talked to her. I didn’t have to talk to her,” Trump told Italian broadcaster La7. “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.”
Meloni denounced Trump’s claims shortly after in a social media video, saying in Italian that she was “astonished” by the president’s “completely made-up” statements.
“I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves like this toward his allies, and it’s not the first time. I can only say it is disappointing that he does not show the same determination with the enemies of the West and of the United States, whose leaders he instead treats with far greater indulgence,” she said. “There is one thing he should remember: neither I nor Italy ever beg.”
In response, the president launched a Truth Social tirade against his former “friend,” saying she was “doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity,” and blasting Italy’s reaction to his war on Iran.
Meloni fired back quickly on Instagram, saying that defending her country’s national interest “is exactly what I’ve always done.”
“In any case, my popularity is none of your concern,” she concluded. “I suggest you focus on yours.”
The dust-up follows a background of mutual appreciation between the two right-wing populists. Trump even creepily referred to Meloni as a “beautiful young woman” during discussions about a possible Gaza peace deal in October.
