Giorgia Meloni is expected to be the first female prime minister of Italy, with her Brothers of Italy party forming a coalition with other conservative, anti-European Union parties. .Do you notice I didn’t describe her or her party as fascist or “far-right,” as just about every media outlet around the world has? I did not do so for lack of evidence. She's much more Margaret Thatcher than Benito Mussolini..George Orwell famously said in the wake of the Second World War, that the word fascism had ceased to mean anything except “something unpleasant.” And it continues to be so today to the left-wing media who want to brand Meloni as something unpleasant because she is for all the things they hate so much: God, country and family. (Her campaign slogan.) Yes, in her youth, Meloni once described Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the father of actual Fascism, as a “good politician.” Well you can’t really argue with that. And I’m not sure that’s even a compliment, given the universal disdain for politicians. Mussolini’s downfall of course was becoming entangled with Adolf Hitler. Had he kept his distance from the Nazi tyrant and that madman's homicidal hatred of Jews and insatiable desire for conquest, he might have enjoyed the longevity of Spain’s Generalissimo Francisco Franco who remained in power until 1976. .But Meloni was not running on any kind of Fascist platform, one which would have included a corporatist economic system where the state essentially manages the economy by controlling private enterprise and trade unions. She would also have advocated a one-party state, abolition of a free press and the subordination of basic civil liberties to the interest of the state. .But at least the trains would run on time, as people joked about Mussolini’s dictatorship. .No, Meloni did not run from the accusations that she was somehow a neo-Fascist but instead declared “The Italian right has handed fascism over to history for decades now, unambiguously condemning the suppression of democracy and the ignominious anti-Jewish laws.” .So why all the irresponsible predictions on the morning talk shows on the front pages of the dailies that Meloni is ushering in a new dark age of despotic police states in Europe? Because she has emphatically declared her opposition to the EU, open borders, abortion, the ever-expanding LGBTQ agenda and the notion that it is the state, and not God that grants inalienable rights to people. .And she wasn’t talking about any items on the left’s agenda, like pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while the citizens in your country are worried about how they are going to heat their homes in the winter. .This hasn’t sat well with the EU and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said her organization has “the tools” to discipline naughty member states that “go in a difficult direction.” .If Italy was already at odds with the EU, a threat like that would certainly not improve relations. .But like the U.K. and Brexit, Italy doesn’t care anymore if the EU approves of their actions because they can’t afford to live in this climate-change-obsessed, World Economic Forum-led club any longer. The ship has sailed. .Energy prices in Italy are soaring, inflation is out of control and the border is open to migrants who wander into the country. It rather sounds like U.S. President Joe Biden’s America. But thank God, the smear job has been muted because of her gender. The criticism of Italy’s new leader could have been worse. Had she been a man, and not the first woman elected to govern Italy, the EU would probably have already looked for ways to annul the election or burned the new prime minister in effigy..Because Meloni is not the second coming of Benito Mussolini but potentially Italy's — and Europe’s — Margaret Thatcher. .Thatcher dared to speak truth and act decisively in a way that men were afraid to do. She just got on with the job and did what had to be done, whether it was selling off all the industry the state had collected over 40 years of Labour and fearful Tory governments, or telling the Coal Miners Union that it did not control the country. .Meloni could be the same breath of fresh air for Italy and Europe.
