What Trump And Italian Prime Minister Conte Have In Common

President Donald Trump meets with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, July 30, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Molly Boigon is a former associate producer and reporter for Learning Curve, WGBH’s K-12 education desk. She has also worked for Boston Public Radio and WGBH’s higher education desk, On Campus. Her interests include jazz, yoga and public records requests. Before joining WGBH, she worked at SiriusXM, WZBC and WAAF. She has a degree in Applied Psychology and Human Development from Boston College’s Lynch School of Education.

July 30, 2018

President Donald Trump meets with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte Monday, and news analyst Charlie Sennott explained that the two leaders share populist values.

“Italy, like a lot of other places in the world right now, is [transitioning] into this right-wing populist sentiment government,” said Sennott on Boston Public Radio. “That’s really what this meeting is about.”

Sennott explained that the two leaders share their propensity for “populist rhetoric,” and that Conte has taken on a similarly anti-globalist platform to that of Donald Trump.

“You have this guy who is anti-Europe, who really wants to see a form of Brexit for Italy,” said Sennott.

Conte threatened to veto all of the E.U. summit’s conclusions during the event last month.

Both Conte and Trump have seized upon immigration as a central issue, populating their platforms with talk of the downsides of immigration. Both have also voiced support for Russia’s return into the G7 summit.

Sennott said Trump’s meeting with Conte is just one more instance of the president keeping company with right-wing populist leaders.

“This is something we have to pay attention to,” said Sennott.

Charlie Sennott is a news analyst at WGBH, where he also heads up the Ground Truth Project.