Biden says Giorgia Meloni’s victory in Italy is a WARNING for American democracy

President Biden warned that the U.S. could follow Italy’s path after it elected far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni last week.  

‘You just saw what’s happened in Italy in that election,’ Biden said Wednesday evening at a fundraiser for the Democratic Governors’ Association at a home in Washington, D.C.. ‘You’re seeing what’s happening around the world. The reason I bother to say that is you can’t be sanguine about what’s happening here, either. I don’t want to exaggerate it, but I don’t want to understate it.’

Meloni, Italy’s first-ever female prime minister and first far-right leader since World War II, won the high office with about 26 percent of the vote. 

Her right wing alliance, which includes Matteo Salvini’s far-right League and former PM Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia, will take control of both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies with about 44 percent of the vote. 

Meloni, who has been outspoken in her campaign against migrants, the EU, abortion and the LGBT community, has been criticized as a leader of a party with neo-fascist roots and an heir to Benito Mussolini.

Her victory marks just the latest win in Europe for a far-right party – the Brothers of Italy have their roots in Italian fascism – following a win for the Sweden Democrats in that country’s ballot two weeks ago.

Meloni – who will be appointed prime minister by the Italian president at a later date once final counting is finished – will lead a right-wing coalition with differing views on key issues, while Italy struggles under a debt pile that makes it vulnerable to weakness in the world economy.

Meloni, Italy’s first-ever female prime minister and first far-right leader since World War II, won the high office with about 26 percent of the vote

While Meloni has backed for the West’s policies on Ukraine, coalition partners Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi have questioned the use of sanctions against Moscow and expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin in the past.

Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán and Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Rally party, celebrated Meloni’s win as a resistance to the ‘anti-democratic and arrogant’ European Union, as Le Pen put it. 

Like much of Europe, Italy is suffering rampant inflation while an energy crisis looms this winter, linked to the conflict in Ukraine.

The Italian economy, the third largest in the eurozone, is also saddled with a debt worth 150 percent of gross domestic product.

Brussels and the markets are watching closely, amid concern that Italy – a founding member of the European Union – may be the latest country to veer hard right, less than two weeks after the far-right outperformed in elections in Sweden.

Meloni will take over from Prime Minister Mario Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank, who pushed Rome to the centre of EU policy-making during his 18-month stint in office, forging close ties with Paris and Berlin. 

Meloni, who has been outspoken in her campaign against migrants, the EU, abortion and the LGBT community, has been criticized as a leader of a party with neo-fascist roots and an heir to Benito Mussolini

For months Biden has been lamenting the loss of the Republicans of yesteryear, calling to mind GOP lawmakers like John McCain and Bob Dole. He has tried to brand 2022 conservatives as ‘Ultra MAGA Republicans.’ He told the crowd at the fundraiser that today’s GOP is a ‘different breed of cat.’ 

Biden has compared Donald Trump’s movement to ‘semi-fascism,’ noting the former president’s refusal to accept the results of the last election, and warned at the fundraiser that if Republicans take more govenor’s, state legislator’s and federal election seats they could erode the integrity of elections for years to come. 

He tore into the ‘incompetence’ of his predecessor and lambasted GOP economic proposals from the likes of Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisc., and Rick Scott, Fla., as ways to shred the social safety net. 

‘We have got to win,’ Biden said. ‘We need to keep control of the Congress, to state the obvious.’