ROME — Racially-inspired hate crimes against immigrants in Italy are multiplying fast, ever since Steve Bannon’s favorite European politician, Matteo Salvini, took over as puppet master of the new government. His puppet prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, was at the White House Monday and basked in Donald Trump’s approval.
Salvini is the mastermind behind Conte’s shaky coalition government and his machinations have sucked the oxygen out of Italian political life, replacing it with fire and brimstone, rabble-rousing racism and the kind of awe-inspiring audacity Trump admires.
Italy’s new “zero tolerance” stance amounts to a Trumpian wall in the Mediterranean Sea which has slowed irregular migration into Italy to a trickle and contributed to soaring death rates and human rights violations. It has also led to vitriol and violent racism of the kind Italy has not seen since the days of Benito Mussolini. On what would have been Il Duce’s 135th birthday, Salvini quoted him in a tweet. “Tanti nemici, tanto onore," which translates to "more enemies, more honor."
