‘Fascist’? Media disturbed by Italy PM Meloni's family values

FPI / September 28, 2022

As results of the Italian election rolled in and populist Giorgia Meloni had secured her spot as the nation's first female prime minister, legacy media seemed to be in competition to see who could say the word "fascist" the most times in describing Meloni's approach to governance.

Though leftist pundits were quick to compare Meloni to wartime fascist leader Benito Mussolini, conservative analysts noted that legacy media are more disturbed by Meloni's dedication to traditional family values, opposition to gender ideology and the LGBT lobby, as well as support for strong borders and an end to mass migration.

Even a liberal former prime minister is calling out what he said is "absolutely fake news" in the reporting on Meloni.

“Personally, I was against Giorgia Meloni. I’m not her best friend. We grew up together in politics, but we are, and will be, rivals, always,” Matteo Renzi, who served as Prime Minister of Italy for nearly three years until December 2016, told CNN.

“At the same time, I think [Meloni] is not a danger [to] Italian democracy,” Renzi continued. “She is my rival, and we will continue to fight each other, but the idea that now there is a risk of fascism in Italy is absolutely fake news.”

The former Prime Minister went on to say that Meloni won Sunday night’s election, “particularly because populism, a lot of times, [wins] in Italy.”

Breitbart's Alana Mastrangelo pointed out that, "indeed, there are genuine neo-fascists in Italy — like CasaPound — but they get so little support at the ballot box they have now given up contesting elections as a waste of time and money."

On Sunday night, the coalition led by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party won Italy’s election, meaning the country’s first national-conservative government is set to take power.

The coalition, known as Centro Destra, is an alliance between Brothers of Italy, former Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s League (Lega), and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italy.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson noted on Monday that Meloni is one of the very few politicians "willing to say the obvious, the truth, out loud and as a result of that, because she's been willing to say what everybody actually knows, last night, her party. called Brothers of Italy. won an overwhelming victory in Italy. They took both majorities in the houses of parliament."

Carlson continued: "By Italian standards, in fact by American standards, this is a revolution, but unlike most revolutions, the person at the front of it can actually explain what she's about. She can articulate it in a way people understand. She's smart."

In speech she gave earlier this year that grabbed the attention of the Italian electorate and likely enraged the leftist pundits, Meloni said:

"Everything we stand for is under attack. Our individual freedom is under attack. Our rights are under attack. The sovereignty of our nation is under attack. The prosperity and well-being of our families are under attack. The education of our children is under attack. In front of this, people understand that in this age, the only way of being rebels is to preserve what we are. The only way of being rebels is to be conservative. They will try to take everything away from us, but they cannot take away who we are. And you know what? Cherishing who we are, knowing what we stand for, is all we need to face this challenge."

Carlson noted: "She's not kidding. She's as serious as the moment we are currently living through. 'Our rights are under attack,' she said, 'The sovereignty of our nation is under attack' and critically 'the prosperity and well-being of our families is under attack' and that's true. That's why it's resonant, because it's real and not just in Italy. It's true here. American families are facing the very same onslaught from the very same poisonous ideologies. The difference is that in this country, it's rarely acknowledged except on the fringes. Meloni's not on the fringes. She's the new prime minister of Italy. She will be and she's saying it out loud."

Free Press International
[Freedom Is Not Free!]