Rome - Italian far-right leader and Interior Minister Matteo
Salvini is a "Baby Trump" who exploits people's fears to win votes,
US actor Richard Gere charged in a Monday interview.
Gere, 69, recently clashed with Salvini over the Open Arms, a charity
rescue ship with more than 100 migrants on board, which is being
denied port entry in Italy.
"[Your] interior minister has the same mentality as president Trump.
In fact, I call Salvini 'Baby Trump.' He uses the same radical
ignorance, he exploits fear and hatred," Gere told Italian daily
Corriere della Sera.
Two weeks ago, Gere boarded the Open Arms to bring food and comfort
the migrants. In response, Salvini urged him to take the migrants to
Hollywood and host them "in his villas."
"If your interior minister were to spend some time with those people,
listened to their stories, their family traumas, he would change his
outlook," the actor said in his Monday interview.
Gere said he would like to meet Salvini because "I'm sure he's not
like he presents himself in public. He'll have a family, children,
parents. [But] He sees politics as a pretext to boost his approval
ratings."
Salvini, who is also deputy premier, is in a messy political
situation after vowing to bring down Italy's government in the hope
of capitalizing on favourable opinion polls to win snap elections.
His estranged coalition allies, the Five Star Movement, are trying to
thwart his plan by forming a new government with the main opposition
party, shutting Salvini out of power.