For those of you not up to date with Italian politics, here's a brief rundown.
Matteo Salvini is an angry buffoon who constantly looks like he's one bad day from kissing his rosary, clenching it in his fist, and punching everyone he sees. He is also the leader of a far right political party in Italy called the League that's recently become quite powerful through the usual technique of xenophobic demagoguery and blaming Brussels for everything.
Until last week, they were the junior partner in a coalition with some mob called the Five Stars (yes, I know, Italian political parties sound like Texan cattle ranches) whose schtick is being anti-establishment and making decisions based on polling their members on the internet.
Now, Salvini thought he'd capitalise on his party's fleeting good fortune by dissolving the coalition and thereby forcing new elections. This did not go the way he hoped. Instead, the Five Stars sought out the biggest opposition party, the centre-left Democrats, to discuss forming government together. Nobody really saw this coming because up until now the Five Stars hated the Democrats, calling them the corrupt old mafioso establishment and numerous other, less flattering, names. Salvini was taken completely by surprise and is now effectively sidelined, potentially until the next elections in 2023. Popular opinion is that he's outsmarted himself and his popularity is dropping.
Whether this new coalition will last is another question. Governments in Italy usually last about as long as a profiterole at a HAES meeting. And anyone who's watched superhero cartoons knows that teamups between mortal enemies in order to defeat a common threat tend not to last long.
Matteo Salvini is an angry buffoon who constantly looks like he's one bad day from kissing his rosary, clenching it in his fist, and punching everyone he sees. He is also the leader of a far right political party in Italy called the League that's recently become quite powerful through the usual technique of xenophobic demagoguery and blaming Brussels for everything.
Until last week, they were the junior partner in a coalition with some mob called the Five Stars (yes, I know, Italian political parties sound like Texan cattle ranches) whose schtick is being anti-establishment and making decisions based on polling their members on the internet.
Now, Salvini thought he'd capitalise on his party's fleeting good fortune by dissolving the coalition and thereby forcing new elections. This did not go the way he hoped. Instead, the Five Stars sought out the biggest opposition party, the centre-left Democrats, to discuss forming government together. Nobody really saw this coming because up until now the Five Stars hated the Democrats, calling them the corrupt old mafioso establishment and numerous other, less flattering, names. Salvini was taken completely by surprise and is now effectively sidelined, potentially until the next elections in 2023. Popular opinion is that he's outsmarted himself and his popularity is dropping.
Whether this new coalition will last is another question. Governments in Italy usually last about as long as a profiterole at a HAES meeting. And anyone who's watched superhero cartoons knows that teamups between mortal enemies in order to defeat a common threat tend not to last long.
