Keep an Eye on MAGA’s New Allies Abroad
Plus: Why is Rand Paul undecided on his 2024 endorsement?
Italy is having a moment with American conservatives. The country’s rapid swing to the right following the collapse of Mario Draghi’s progressive government in 2022 brought Giorgia Meloni, the most right-wing prime minister since World War II, into office. But Donald Trump and his allies are now carving out a lane with Italian politicians who are even further to the right than Meloni, signaling an interest in conservative leaders who more closely resemble Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán than nerdy U.K. Tory Rishi Sunak.
Longtime Press Pass readers might remember a dispatch from the early days of the 118th Congress, when House Republicans were eager to move on from the embarrassment of taking as long as they did to elect Kevin McCarthy speaker. The international story then was the burgeoning Republican infatuation with the recently elected Meloni. Meloni had a reputation as a devoted conservative intent on pivoting Lo Stivale away from center-left European norms such as liberal and welcoming policies regarding migrants and refugees.
I reported at the time on the GOP’s eagerness to send a congressional delegation to Italy. They sent one later that year, and during the trip, lawmakers traveled to Rome, where amid platefuls of carbonara they fraternized with far-right, frequently racist officials. Meloni made her own trek to Washington last July, where she met with McCarthy (then in the twilight of his speakership), President Joe Biden, and others. It was a relatively normal state visit.