If elections were held today in Italy, a nationalist movement would have a clear shot at winning. Brothers of Italy has seen massive gains in recent opinion polls inching out the League, the other major right-wing force in the country. Fascism is the new Italy. Empathy with Mussolini’s prosperous Italy is strong in Italy.

Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia) is the opening words of Italy’s national anthem. Its motto ‘Italy First and Italians First,’ ‘God, Fatherland and Family’. Brothers of Italy transformed the party founded by post-war Mussolini movement into modern ultranationalist force. It defines herself as: conservative feminist, enemy of nihilistic globalist elites.

Purpose to Defend Christian identity from Islamization. Fiercely anti-migrant, anti-abortion, hostile to LGBTQ rights and families. Sets its stall out to Italy’s majority against government Covid repression. Allied with Matteo Salvini who refuses to criticise Mussolini’s Italy.

Often compared to Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Rally, Meloni has shaped her platform to include many of the codewords that are pretty much par for the course for any successful right-wing populist movement in Europe: anti-EU; defence of Italian sovereignty; opposition to abortion and LGBTQ rights; defence of Christian values; anti-migrant and warnings about Europe’s creeping Islamization.

Interestingly, Israeli commentator’s hostile to Meloni’s party, with the exception of championing Our Lord, demand Brothers of Italy agenda for Jewish Occupied Palestine (Israel).

Giorgia Meloni keeps her Fascist base happy by refusing to condemn Mussolini’s Italy while attracting new followers by blaming the EU or migrants for Italy’s economic and social ills. Meloni has become so popular in Italy partly thanks to her down-to-earth charm and the attractiveness of her image as a self-declared conservative feminist.

Meloni is the only woman to lead a major political party in Italy, but the real glass ceiling she has hit is the one formed by the League party. Led by Matteo Salvini, it offers pretty much the same brand of anti-establishment policies as the Brothers of Italy. They’ve been competing for the same voter pool for years, and Salvini has always had the upper hand until now.

Earlier this month, Italy introduced a ‘green pass’ for vaccinated people, a requirement for entry into restaurants, bars, museums and other public venues. Meloni described the pass as an anti-democratic move that limits the freedom of citizens, further devastates the economy and de facto introduces a vaccine mandate.

Meloni declares, individual freedom is scared and inviolable. She has sensed the potential of crowds to gain power: the appeal to tens of thousands of people who have protested the green pass in demonstrations across Italy over recent days.

Among those who have taken note of Meloni’s new tactic is Salvini, head of the League and her main opponent for the leadership of Italy’s right-wing camp. Sensing his supporter base slipping away, he has jumped on the vax-sceptic bandwagon.

Salvini has stated that, ‘It’s not necessary’ for those under 40 to vaccinate, and he now opposes introducing a mandate for teachers or students. ‘This is not right for a free country,’ he told Italian reporters. ‘I don’t want to see my 18-year-old son stalked by a syringe.’

If the polls are right, the Brothers could likely form an all-right wing governing coalition with Matteo Salvini’s League and Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party. After all, they have been allies before, and Meloni’s government experience comes from a stint as Berlusconi’s youth minister from 2008 to 2011.

This time however, the tables would be turned: Berlusconi’s party, polling at around seven percent, would be the junior partner, and Meloni, as head of the main political force in the country, could rightfully demand the spot of prime minister.

Even if early elections are avoided and Italians go to the polls as scheduled in early 2023, it’s hard to imagine Meloni’s support evaporating that quickly. She has reaped the COVID whirlwind to her advantage, while achieving another significant step in the post-war mainstreaming of the far right in Italy.

It’s clear that Meloni, championing God, fatherland and family in the words of the Brothers’ has luck, expedience and the proven attraction of scepticism about science and state institutions, conspiratorial thinking and xenophobic nationalism on her side and that she will remain a political force to be reckoned with for years to come.