The European right is staking out hard boundaries with President Donald Trump, as his few allies on the continent become targets of his ridicule and hostility.
According to Politico, Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken, a member of the right-wing New Flemish Alliance party, stated that while Europeans should work with Trump on a lot of things because they "need to keep America on board," one thing they should not tolerate is his escalating attacks against Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“Of course we need him as an ally, but don't touch Meloni. She's the queen of center-right in Europe. She's the alpha. Leave her alone,” said Francken. “I love her, she's conservative, she is totally on the same line ... and then you're going to have a fight on what? On a picture!”
Francken is referring to the recent spat in which Trump enraged Meloni, a member of a far-right Italian party who has broadly worked with him on many issues, by "an awkward meeting between the two leaders at the June G7 summit in Evian, France, after which Trump said Meloni had 'begged' him for a photo — something the Italian leader insisted was not true."
Trump escalated things on Sunday by posting an image of Meloni looking up at him with a huge smile, and the caption, "RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED."
Trump has already brought U.S.-European relations to a low point thanks to his incessant fixation on forcing Denmark to sell or hand over the territory of Greenland, as well as his step back from longstanding U.S. commitments to aid Ukraine against the invasion of Russia.