Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, for example, has been singled out by many — including herself — as a possible Trump whisperer, and Musk is a fan. So much so, in fact, that he had to deny any romantic connection with the Italian leader, after describing her as “someone who is even more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside” at an awards ceremony in New York last year.
However, Bannon and other MAGA loyalists don’t want Meloni reaching Trump’s ear, and have been mounting unrelenting attacks on her in the Italian media, accusing her of being a leftie camouflaged as a populist. Bannon faults Meloni for being “one of the biggest supporters of continuing the war in Ukraine,” arguing for nationalist firebrands Marine Le Pen, Nigel Farage and Viktor Orbán as bridges to Europe instead. (However, some of his ire may be because Meloni has done nothing to ease the legal tangle preventing Bannon acolytes from gaining back control of an Italian monastery they want to use as a political academy — or gladiator school — for European populists.)
Now, Musk has turned on Reform UK leader Farage, abruptly declaring the party should replace him, since he won’t embrace British fascist activist and anti-Islam campaigner Tommy Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon). Largely viewed as a cross between a Blackshirt, street thug and football hooligan at home, Robinson adopted his political pseudonym to cover up a criminal history, and he’s been serving an 18-month prison term for contempt of court after repeating libelous allegations — not, as Musk appears to believe, for just speaking out.
On the one hand, all this squabbling makes for a dizzying and entertaining spectacle: A parade of sudden spats, snubs and tearful reconciliations akin to the kind of tabloid fare more associated with reality television and the royals.
But in this never-ending cycle of meddling, needling and escalating disputes, the side that disruptor-in-chief Trump ends up coming down on won’t just impact the performance and trajectory of his own administration, it will also have consequences for the wider world — including Europe.
Trump’s first term was, to say the very least, traumatic for Europe’s leaders, accompanied as it was with threats to pull out of NATO, a refusal to emphatically reaffirm the alliance’s collective defense clause, and rifts on issues ranging from trade and immigration to sanctions and climate change. On top of that, there were his abrasive, distracting tweets and social media posts, which contributed to confusing and roiling transatlantic relations.