A college football player apologized on Twitter and backtracked his support for Italy’s presumptive new prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.
“I apologize for posting without understanding the reality of what I was posting about,” Brian Buschini, a starting punter for the University of Nebraska, wrote via Twitter on Sept. 28, a day after praising the new Italian leader in a now-deleted post.
Meloni, who leads the right-wing Brothers of Italy party, secured the largest vote share in national elections on Sunday and is set to be the country’s first female prime minister late next month. The 45-year-old became Italy’s youngest-ever minister at the age of 21.
Following her victory in Italy’s election earlier this week, a 2019 speech of Meloni promoting traditional values resurfaced and went viral online.
Pro-Life Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni:
“We will defend God, country and family.”https://t.co/Cm15gBGeHx pic.twitter.com/Xbdz2gRIMw
— LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ) September 26, 2022
“Why is the family an enemy? Why is the family so frightening?” Meloni said in her career-defining speech three years ago, also the one that had won the vocal support of Buschini. “There is a single answer to all these questions. Because it defines us. Because it is our identity. Because everything that defines us is now an enemy for those who would like us to no longer have an identity and to simply be perfect consumer slaves.”
“And so they attack national identity, they attack religious identity, they attack gender identity, they attack family identity,” she continued. “I can’t define myself as Italian, Christian, woman, mother. No. I must be Citizen X, Gender X, Parent 1, Parent 2. I must be a number. Because when I am only a number, when I no longer have an identity or roots, then I will be the perfect slave at the mercy of financial speculators. The perfect consumer.”
Buschini, also a sophomore from Montana, firstly responded by writing: “All Glory to God! Love this!” Yet it was not long before the post drew backlash from Liberals, pushing the player to delete the original post and issue an apology.
“I want to take the time to apologize for a tweet I posted yesterday,” his statement reads.
“I saw a headline from a speech the new Prime Minister of Italy made that seemed to support Christianity and family values. I unfortunately tweeted about this without knowing the background or history of this politician or the movement she is involved with. In no way do I support fascism or racism in any form,” Buschini added.
New Coalition
Heading an alliance of conservative parties, Meloni is now poised to lead the most conservative government since World War Two. The politician has long been portrayed as being “far-right.”
In a June speech, she compares her politics to those of conservative lawmakers of the United States and the United Kingdom.
“Yes to natural families, no to the LGBT lobby, yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology, yes to the culture of life, no to the abyss of death,” she said. “No to the violence of Islam, yes to safer borders, no to mass immigration, yes to work for our people, no to major international finance.”
Meloni has also pledged to support Western policy on Ukraine and not take undue risks with the third largest economy in the eurozone.
The country’s main center-left group, the Democratic Party, conceded defeat early Monday and said it would be the largest opposition force in the next parliament.
Italy has a history of political instability and the next prime minister will lead the country’s 68th government since 1946 and face a host of problems, notably soaring energy costs and growing economic headwinds.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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