Speaking in Rome on the 4th of July at his first rally since the Corona lockdown in Italy, Lega party head Matteo Salvini sent special greetings to President Trump and the people of the United States.
by Collin McMahon
“Today is a special day, it is the Fourth of July. On the other side of the ocean, it is Independence Day. So I want to send a greeting, from me and from all of you,” Matteo Salvini said to the crowd of one thousand fans waving the Italian tricolore on Rome’s Piazza del Populo, socially distanced on reserved places, many wearing masks. Italy was the first western country to be hit hard by the Corona outbreak, with Johns Hopkins statistics currently listing 241,611 cases and 34,861 dead.
Switching to English, the former Italian minister of the interior said: “Greetings from me and from this square to the American people and their President Donald Trump for Independence day. All lives matter! Long live freedom!”
Switching back into Italian, Salvini said, “All lives matter, black and white! No life is worth more than any other! And while, not far from here at the Palazzo Chigi (the government palace), there is a Prime Minister who prefers Communist or Islamist regimes like China, Venezuela and Iran, the people in this square choose freedom. We choose democracy and respect. Long live freedom!”
Salvini is currently the most popular politician in Italy. Polls show his Lega party down from over 35% in Summer of 2019 to around 25%, with Georgia Meloni’s right-wing “Fratelli D’Italia” gaining from about 7% to almost 15%, while Silvio Berlusconi’s “Forza Italia” has declined from about 12% to around 8%. With about 48-50% of the vote, the three center-right parties would presumably take over the government if elections were held now.
Here is Matteo Salvini’s reception in Rome.
Collin McMahon is Gateway Pundit foreign correspondent.
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