The media is clearly in the wrong when politicians from the other end of the spectrum are coming out to condemn fake news. Former Italian PM Matteo Renzi (2014 to 2016) is putting his political views aside and defending newly-appointed PM Giorgia Meloni. Countless articles have compared her to Benito Mussolini, claiming she would bring fascism back to Italy. Renzi said that this is fake news.
Renzi took to CNN, a platform that immediately compared Meloni to the deceased fascist dictator, and defended her character. Renzi admitted that Meloni is his rival and that they will continue to fight in the political realm. “There is not a danger for Italian democracy,” Renzi said on CNN. “She’s my rival, I’m her rival, we will continue to fight each other, but the idea now that there is a risk of fascism in Italy is absolutely fake news.”
Renzi said that Italy has not changed its position on Russia and that NATO should not worry about any problems from Italy. Does the media recall what the Italians did to Mussolini in the end? They hung him and his mistress in the streets and brutalized their corpses. Italians certainly do not want a repeat of Mussolini’s fascist reign, nor do they want to give the government more control. They also do not want to give the EU control or abandon Italian culture for a melting pot of European values set forth by Brussels. Renzi is more in favor of the EU than Meloni but admits she is a sovereigntist, which is precisely why she is the new prime minister.