Italy’s Meloni let Trump’s jibes slide for so long. Now, she’s hitting back (opens in new tab)

US Donald Trump has sparred with most of his fellow Group of Seven leaders at some point. But Italy’s Giorgia Meloni this week did something none of them dared: she escalated. Unlike Spanish Socialist Pedro Sanchez, one of the few leaders in Europe who has made political capital of being berated by Trump, the Italian prime minister had stood out as one of the few Europeans he actually liked: an outspoken conservative at ease talking Maga. But Meloni has also transitioned from a populist...