Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s escalating feud with President Donald Trump is nothing but a calculated political strategy aimed at boosting her standing at home, a leading Italian political analyst told Fox News Digital on Sunday.After the row between Trump and Meloni escalated on June 20, analysts also said the Italian leader may see little downside in confronting Trump, particularly as she faces declining approval ratings ahead of Italy's 2027 general election.The diplomatic dispute had reached a boiling point after Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced June 19 that he was scrapping a trip to Washington, where he had been scheduled to meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio."Giorgia Meloni must have calculated that a public row with Trump yields no tangible consequences, other than an increase in her domestic and international standing," Mattia Diletti, a political science lecturer at Sapienza University of Rome, said.TRUMP SAYS MELONI 'WANTS TO BE FRIENDS AGAIN' AFTER ITALY REFUSED TO HELP US AMID IRAN WARGiorgia Meloni said President Trump's statements were "completely made up" and that "neither I nor Italy ever beg." (Mandel NGAN / POOL / AFP via Getty Images; Bastien Ohier / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images))Giovanni Orsina, a political scientist at Rome’s Luiss University, also told the Financial Times that the row would offer a "positive image" for Meloni and a "silver lining" to a confrontation she had "desperately tried to avoid."The friction between Trump and Meloni intensified after an interview broadcast by Italy’s La7 television network, where the president claimed she had asked for a photograph with him at the G7 summit and that he agreed only out of pity."She begged me to take a picture with her," Trump said."She wanted a picture with me so badly.
I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her."RUBIO MEETS MELONI AS TRUMP–POPE CLASH CLASH ESCALATES US STRAINS WITH KEY EUROPEAN ALLYItalian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni...