The relationship between Trump and Europe, Italy first and foremost, remains a troubled relationship. The American president has returned to speaking about the Old Continent with critical tones and the inevitable threat: “Ready to dump you”. This time the reason is the street riots that have hurt Milan, but also France, which the tycoon links to poor management of immigration.
Trump’s words are not surprising. In recent months the tycoon has targeted Europe on several occasions and Italy has long been in the US president’s thoughts, with a series of attacks on the Prime Minister. Criticisms to which Meloni initially responded, only to then choose the path of silence instead. A fire which, however, apparently has never been extinguished, at least on the American side, and which Trump’s new declarations could rekindle.
.@POTUS: If you want to see what is at stake in this election, just look at what’s happening in France — a once-great nation that is being conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and Communists who hate Christianity and Western civilization itself. https://t.co/aDlfn13JXt
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 20, 2026
Trump’s lunge
Trump, during a rally in Kansas, spoke about the protests in France and Italy. “They have to do with immigration. France and Italy are worse countries than they were,” he said. Then the threat: “If Europe doesn’t close its borders it’s over. If they don’t find the right path soon, we’ll have no choice but to leave. Left-wing politicians have imported millions and millions of migrants from the third world. We won’t let this happen to our country.”
The tycoon then recalled that “when we asked for help in Iran, they didn’t give us a hand and we spend so much for NATO. It’s something we can never forget.”
Zelensky in the crosshairs
Trump’s biggest accusations for now are all against Ukrainian President Zelensky. The president again called for a succession: “Zelensky is a man who should have ended this war a long time ago. It’s time for someone else to negotiate on Ukraine’s behalf. If he had listened to me in the Oval Office, he would have struck a better deal a long time ago.”
From Kiev, however, Zelensky does not give up and in a video call with a bipartisan representation of Congress complains about delays in the deliveries of Patriot interceptor missiles, the continuous restrictions on access to Starlink for Ukrainian soldiers and the unjustified interruption of alerts on Russian missile launches. A pro-Russian turn – Zelensky suggests – which makes Kiev much more vulnerable to attacks from Moscow today.
“We could suspend attacks on Russian oil refineries for 30 days. In exchange – underlined Zelensky, as reported by Ukrinform – we would expect America to help us protect our skies for those same 30 days in particular with Patriot interceptor missiles. It would be right, but unfortunately we have not found any willingness to help us even with this option”.
WATCH IN FULL: President Donald J. Trump takes questions from reporters before departing the White House earlier today. https://t.co/T9718UXkuR
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 19, 2026