Italy’s First Female Prime Minister Is a Real (Fascist) Piece of Work

Italy appears to be getting its first female prime minister—a fascist woman who used to dress up as a hobbit and will be the country’s most right-wing leader since dictator and literal Nazi ally Benito Mussolini. Giorgia Meloni is the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, which media outlets cutely describe as having “neo-Fascist roots.” She is critical of the European Union, is a hardliner on immigration, opposes abortion rights, has spoken out about same-sex marriage, and felt compelled last month to release a message in three languages claiming that she’s not a danger to democracy.

Here are some other fun facts about Italy’s new head of government:

In August, she tweeted a video of a woman being raped by an asylum seeker in a disgusting bid to capitalize on fear of immigrants. (She has repeatedly called for a naval blockade of the Mediterranean to stop migrants coming from Northern Africa.)

She reveres The Lord of the Rings—as apparently many hard-right Italians do, with its themes of good guys fighting against globalization—and has attended “Hobbit Camp.” Meloni told the New York Times, “I think that Tolkien could say better than us what conservatives believe in.”

She loves to post anime fan art of herself.

On Sunday, election day, she posted a TikTok of her holding two melons to her chest to make a pun about her last name and encourage people to vote for her and her fascist tits. She concluded the clip with a cheeky little wink.

Naturally, Meloni has gotten love from some fascism-curious American lawmakers, including Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Cruz retweeted a speech of Meloni’s in which she claimed, according to a translation, that she can no longer define herself as a Christian, woman, and mother because unnamed forces are attacking people’s identities so humans are reduced to “perfect consumer slaves.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) shared the same clip and congratulated “Giorgio” Meloni.

Good luck to all the people of Italy who didn’t vote for this woman.