US President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric against Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Sunday evening, July 5, by sharing an image of the two leaders on his Truth Social account. The post featured a caption stating that the Italian leader “needs a restraining order,” a term typically used in legal contexts where a restraining order is a precautionary measure used against stalkers whereby a court order requires the perpetrator to keep their distance from the person subjected to their unwarranted attention. The image appeared to be a sarcastic commentary on Meloni’s appearance in the photo, marking the latest development in a series of public confrontations between the two figures.
This latest provocation arrives just hours before the NATO summit in Ankara, scheduled for July 7 and 8, where both leaders are expected to be present. According to reporting from the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the Italian government has decided to avoid a direct reaction to what is viewed as an unjustified and context-free personal attack. Sources indicate that Prime Minister Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani consulted overnight to establish a strategy of silence regarding the post.
The incident has drawn expressions of support for the Prime Minister from various Italian political figures. Azione leader Carlo Calenda took to X to condemn the post, labeling the US President a “despicable two-bit bully” and expressing his full solidarity with Meloni. This latest event further exacerbates the cooling relations between Washington and Rome, which have been strained since the spring of 2026 over disagreements regarding the management of crises in Iran and the Middle East, as well as Trump’s public criticism of Pope Leo XIV and Italy’s shifting position on NATO policy.
The current tension reached a significant breaking point on June 19, when Trump claimed in an interview that Meloni had begged for a photo opportunity during the G7 summit, asserting that he only complied “out of pity.” Meloni firmly rejected these claims as “totally invented,” leading to diplomatic fallout, including the cancellation of a scheduled visit to the United States by Foreign Minister Tajani.
Beyond his focus on the Italian Prime Minister, Trump has also recently intensified his criticism of the Atlantic Alliance. On July 2, he described the US relationship with NATO as “one-way” and “ridiculous,” arguing that the alliance is not reciprocal. To bolster his position, Trump released data on military spending from 2014 to the present, claiming that the United States has contributed $999 billion, while citing significantly lower figures for other nations: $90.5 billion for the United Kingdom, $66.5 billion for France, $48.8 billion for Italy, and $44.3 billion for Poland.
