For a column about threats of the end of the world, this was also surprisingly funny.
www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/o...
Lane Greene
Trump's story that Georgia Meloni "begged" him for a selfie—and Meloni's furious response ("I, and Italy, never beg")—is dominating every Italian news website. This is such a self-own.
War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, green is blue.
The word "Orwellian" is vastly overused, but it's hard to see a clearer application of "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." I think that is what is making this trivial story reverberate day after day.
The point of the column: Americans may use too much AC, but Europeans moralize and fret too much about it. The green buildout—and rising temperatures—means that even green-minded Europeans can have a little less guilt (in southern Europe) or scorn (in the north) about using it.
Oof, the whole conversation makes this worse. Trump himself changes the topic to Meloni, asks the interviewer what she thought of him, and then tells the selfie story. (My back-translation from the Italian.)
I haven't checked whether all these are true, but I can say with certainty that right now a whole lot of Italy is pissed.
Knits With Cats
Filling in for Charlemagne this week, I looked at the dilemma I and millions of others living in Europe face when looking at the thermostat.
www.economist.com/europe/2026/...
