'You don’t mind being called beautiful, right?' Trump uses summit to gush over Italian PM

During his address in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on Monday during the Gaza Peace Summit, President Trump took a moment to gush over the looks of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, remarks that he lamented may be the “end of [his] political career.”

As he spoke, Meloni was seen standing awkwardly right behind him.

“We have a woman, a young woman who’s… I’m not allowed to say it because usually it’s the end of your political career if you say it: she’s a beautiful young woman!” Trump said, standing at a podium as Meloni stood directly behind him. “Now, if you use the word ‘beautiful’ in the United States about a woman, that’s the end of your political career, but I’ll take my chances.”

Trump’s eyes darted across the room looking for Meloni until he noticed her standing right behind him, after which he gushed over her appearance further.

“Where is she?” Trump said, looking around the room. “There she is! You don’t mind being called beautiful, right? Because you are.”

The peace summit was organized for world leaders to discuss the future for the Middle East following the Trump-brokered peace deal being agreed to, in part, by Israel and Hamas, which saw the release of all remaining living Israeli hostages Monday morning, and is expected to see Israel begin a phased withdrawal of its military occupation of Gaza.

Trump’s comments about Meloni’s appearance come after what world leaders hope is the end to the bloodshed in Gaza, which according to the Gaza Health Ministry has seen around 68,000 deaths, a majority of which were women and children. However, an estimate as to the Gazan death toll from the medical journal The Lancet last year put the figure at up to 186,000, and a new study published in July estimated the death toll to be as high as 680,000.

Trump has received scrutiny in the past for similar remarks on women’s physical appearance, such as an instance in 2017 when he singled out a female Irish reporter in a moment that critics dubbed “creepy.”