What does the American right think of Roberto Vannacci?

Roberto Vannacci’s rising star – at least in the polls – has piqued the curiosity of the American right. This comes as no surprise; after all, the general and Futuro Nazionale firmly established themselves in the spotlight just as relations between Donald Trump and Giorgia Meloni were beginning to deteriorate. And whilst the first to make contact with everything revolving around Futuro Nazionale and its think tank were representatives of the most radical MAGA wing – the one that has long been consolidating itself around the ‘America First’ platform championed by figures such as Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon – subsequently, circles more closely linked to the current administration and, above all, to the tech sector have also begun to take an interest in Vannacci. For the Americans, he remains a bizarre and not entirely comprehensible figure: a general elected to the European Parliament with a party he subsequently left in record time, and who has presented himself – not least through memes and AI-generated content – as the strongman of the true right. For the circle of MAGA Republicans most closely aligned with Trump, Vannacci appeared to be a useful tool for exerting pressure on Meloni from the right. This strategic interest could be seen as part of the drive for cultural penetration in Europe recently highlighted by the Financial Times in the article “Why MAGA came for Europe”, which has taken concrete form in initiatives such as the US State Department’s call for proposals in favour of European think tanks and associations aligned with the current US administration. In reality, now that various factions of the right are also locked in a fierce battle amongst themselves in America, matters are becoming more complicated. There is no doubt that, as things stand, it is Bannon’s faction that views the general more favourably than the government’s MAGA faction.

For Silicon Valley, which leans to the right, Futuro Nazionale remains, even today, something of a mystery. Many in the United States were left with a bitter taste in their mouths when the meetings that took place in recent years between entrepreneurs in the sector and the Italian government turned out to be nothing more than a charade with no substance. And for this reason, the emergence of a new political movement has sparked curiosity and the not-too-veiled hope of having finally found that interlocutor which, to date, the Meloni-led parliamentary and ministerial establishment has in no way been. However, this curiosity has given way to a certain, growing scepticism. This is driven by the positions of Futuro Nazionale, which, whilst viewing Trumpism favourably, nevertheless seems inclined towards a ‘multipolar world’ narrative and is critical of US foreign policy. But what also leaves the tech magnates close to Trump perplexed is the leadership brought on board by Vannacci, which appears to stem from a radical, anti-American right wing with anti-imperialist rhetoric reminiscent of Shining Path. Even the press revelation of the anti-Semitic, Nazi-apologetic and boomer-style banter in the alleged chat group comprising three hundred members of Vannacci’s party has reached America, causing deep consternation. In the past, such matters would have remained confined to domestic politics, but in the age of social media, virality makes it possible to cross oceans instantly. The news was, for example, picked up by Mario Nawfal, a citizen journalist with nearly four million followers, who was once a favourite of Musk’s before their apparent personal falling-out. It has provoked the indignation of James Mattis, former US Secretary of Defence during Trump’s first term. Also of considerable concern is the section entitled ‘Innovation, Technological Sovereignty and Human Capital’ in the Futuro Nazionale programme, which refers to ‘Italian participation in international programmes dedicated to semiconductors, microelectronics and advanced technologies’. Put like that, it seems to leave the door open not only to the American ‘Pax Silica’, but also to the Chinese ‘Waico’, which is so detested by the Americans.