Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ted Cruz under fire for celebrating Italian far-right victory

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House and Senate Republicans aligned with former president Donald Trump are hailing the emergence of the first Italian fascist leader since the Second World War as a sign that the world is embracing Mr Trump’s brand of authoritarianism and a harbinger of a GOP victory in November’s midterm US elections.

Election returns showing that far-right leader Giorgia Meloni and her Fratelli d’Italia party — literally “Brothers of Italy” — emerged from snap parliamentary elections with a plurality of seats touched off a wave of celebrations among far-right elements of the Republican Party, many of whom also pointed to a recent victory by a far-right party in Swedish elections as evidence that the GOP’s brand of strongman populism is increasingly en vogue.

Colorado GOP representative Lauren Boebert took to Twitter to suggest that the recent European election results show how "the entire world is beginning to understand that the Woke Left does nothing but destroy”.

She added: “Nov. 8 is coming soon and the USA will fix our House and Senate!"

Her colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia also hailed Ms Meloni’s win over the weekend, though she misspelled the Italian leader’s name in a tweet offering congratulations.

“Congratulations to Giorgia Meloni and to the people of Italy," she wrote.

Senate Republicans also celebrated the right-wing Italian victory and pledged to work with Ms Meloni’s incoming government.

GOP Senator Ted Cruz of Texas called the result “spectacular” and posted a video of Ms Meloni’s victory speech to Twitter.

His colleague Tom Cotton of Arkansas also said the Senate GOP would be standing by to assist Ms Meloni, whose political party traces its roots to the fascist Italian movement founded by the late dictator Benito Mussolini.

“Congratulations to Giorgia Meloni and the winners of the Italian elections. We look forward to working with her and other Italian leaders to advance our shared interests. America is stronger when Italy is strong, sovereign, prosperous, and free,” he wrote.

The Republican lawmakers faced condemnation for cheering on the Italian results.