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Italy's Salvini Aims for Top Job

Jamie Dettmer

   Italian senators don't often interrupt their summer vacations but
   thanks to the firebrand populist Matteo Salvini, the country's deputy
   prime minister and head of the Lega party, they had to return to a
   scorching hot capital Tuesday to discuss when to hold a formal vote of
   no-confidence in Italy's tempestuous 14-month-old coalition government.

   Italy's politicians traditionally avoid serious politicking during the
   vacation weeks of high summer when much of the country decamps to the
   beaches for a long break. Salvini, a master of disruptive populism,
   chose last week, however, to announce he could no longer continue
   governing in coalition with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement.

   "Not all marriages work," quipped Steve Bannon, the former adviser to
   Donald Trump, who has acted as an informal consigliere, or adviser, to
   Salvini. "I think that the marriage between Salvini and Di Maio was a
   noble experiment," Bannon told theCorriere Della Seranewspaper,
   referring to Luigi Di Maio, the head of the Five Star Movement.

   The divorce has been on the cards since last May's European
   parliamentary elections when the Lega doubled its support from 17% to
   34%, prompting not only Salvini's glee, but predictions from most
   analysts that he'd likely collapse the squabbling coalition government
   and angle for a snap election to capitalize on his growing public
   backing.

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