It has been a grim pleasure to watch the unraveling of the so-called populist International. The latest dispatch from the corridors of power: Giorgia Meloni and Donald Trump are no longer on speaking terms. The tectonic plates of right-wing fraternity have shifted, and the result is a minor tremor that nonetheless signals an earthquake in the making. Into this vacuum steps the United Kingdom, that perennial broker of last resort, attempting to mend fences between two leaders who share little more than a mutual admiration for their own reflection.
Let us first understand the nature of this fall-out. It is a comedy of errors, a tragic misunderstanding born of the very narcissism that propelled both figures to power. Trump, still fuming over Meloni’s unwillingness to endorse his absurd claims about the 2020 election, has reportedly refused her calls. Meloni, for her part, has grown tired of Trump’s demands for loyalty oaths and his insistence that she adopt a more confrontational stance toward Brussels. The result is a diplomatic stand-off that would be amusing were it not for the fact that these two control the levers of power in two of the West’s most important nations.
The irony is thick enough to cut with a chainsaw. Here are two leaders who built their brands on the idea that they would restore strength and dignity to their respective countries. Meloni, the proud defender of Italian sovereignty, is now reduced to begging for crumbs of attention from a man who cannot distinguish between a rally and a therapy session. Trump, the dealmaker who promised to end forever wars, cannot even maintain a simple alliance with a fellow traveler. It is a spectacle that should sober any remaining romantic about the populist project.
Into this breach steps the British government, ever the eager fixer. London has offered to host talks between the two camps, hoping to patch up a relationship that has soured with alarming speed. This is the same British government that once stood as the guarantor of European stability, now reduced to playing marriage counselor between two aging children. One must admire the sheer chutzpah of the Foreign Office, even as one despairs at the decline of the grand tradition of British diplomacy. Once we brokered the Congress of Vienna; now we broker handshakes between thin-skinned populists.
But let us not be too harsh on the UK. In a world where alliances are fraying and ideological coherence is a forgotten luxury, even a small victory is welcome. The real tragedy is that this fall-out is not an aberration but a symptom. It is the natural result of a political class that has abandoned ideology for personality, principle for grievance. Meloni and Trump are not unique in their failure; they are merely the most visible examples of a broader rot.
Consider the historical parallels. This is not the first time that an alliance of convenience has collapsed under the weight of egotism. The Holy Alliance, that grand coalition of conservative monarchies, dissolved when the monarchs realized that their interests were not as aligned as they had pretended. The Populist International will follow the same path, and good riddance. The sooner we abandon the fiction of a unified right-wing front, the sooner we can return to the messy but necessary work of actual governance.
For now, the world watches as Britain attempts to salvage what little remains of this broken relationship. It is a noble effort, but one that is likely to fail. Because at the end of the day, Meloni and Trump are not interested in alliances. They are interested in themselves. And no amount of quiet diplomacy can cure that particular disease.
