The tech billionaire and the Italian PM exchange pleasantries at glitzy Washington gala dinner, while Atlantic Council staffers fume.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni responded to Elon’s Musk’s glowing introduction by praising his “precious genius.” | Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

NEW YORK — A year ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was feted at the Atlantic Council’s glitzy gala dinner in New York. This year, it was controversial tech billionaire Elon Musk and Italy’s right-wing leader Giorgia Meloni in the limelight.

On Monday night, the prestigious think tank gave Meloni a Global Citizens Award at a black-tie affair that has become a centerpiece of the United Nations General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders. At the Italian prime minister’s request, Musk was invited to introduce Meloni — a move that had sparked widespread dissent from the think tank’s staffers.

But watching the happenings on-stage at the Ziegfried Ballroom in downtown Manhattan, you’d never know anything but love was in the air.

Musk, a maverick tech mogul who has riled regulators on both sides of the Atlantic and thrown his support behind Donald Trump in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, introduced Meloni in glowing terms — as “someone who is even more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside” and “authentic, honest and thoughtful.”

“That can’t always be said about politicians,” Musk added, in a dig at Meloni’s counterparts that was met with laughs from the crowd.

The Italian leader, meanwhile, responded by praising Musk’s “precious genius.”

The two have met several times before, with Meloni hosting the billionaire at her official residence in Rome last year, where they discussed shared interests like the West’s declining birth rates and the potential of artificial intelligence. Musk was also a guest speaker at a political festival hosted by Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party last December.

But Monday was Meloni’s moment. Following Musk’s brief remarks — and a short embrace with the X and Tesla boss — the 47-year-old Meloni, who became Italy’s first female prime minister almost two years ago, used a 15-minute speech to espouse her vision of Western conservatism.

Apart from a brief mention of Italy’s support for Ukraine, Meloni steered clear of contemporary geopolitical concerns. Instead, she embarked on a lengthy exposition of her conservative philosophy. Using an op-ed by Anthony J. Constantini that appeared in POLITICO last year as a springboard, Meloni embarked on a passionate defense of the “values” of the West and “a civilization built over the centuries.”

Patriotism, she said, “is the best response to declinism,” as she challenged the notion of the “inevitable decline of the West.”

“Defending our deep roots is the precondition for reaping ripe fruit,” the Italian prime minister said.

In a week during which global leaders come together to advance the cause of multilateralism at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Meloni instead championed patriotism, hailing the West as “a civilization built over the centuries.”

“Our freedom and our values and the pride we feel for them are the weapons our adversaries fear the most,” she declared, citing Conservative philosophers like Roger Scruton and Giuseppe Prezzolini.

“The West is a system of values in which the person is central, men and women are equal and free, and therefore the system is democratic and based on the rule of law. I ask and I wonder — are these values we should be ashamed of?”

Speaking in English, Meloni held the attention of the 600-plus attendees at the exclusive dinner — and received a standing ovation from Musk, who was sitting at a table next to his mother, model and dietician Maye Musk.

For Meloni, who has emerged as a political force to be reckoned with on the EU stage after her party performed well in the European parliamentary election this summer, it was a coming out of sorts to the powerful U.S. foreign policy and think tank world.

Meloni, who has previously spoken at CPAC, the U.S. conservative political conference that has become a go-to place for Trump’s brand of Republicanism, has stopped short of endorsing any candidate in November’s presidential election. (She had a warm meeting with current President Joe Biden in the White House in June, bolstered by her support for Ukraine, a policy that differentiates her from other right-wing European leaders like Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.)

But despite not explicitly backing Trump, Meloni is well-placed to become the EU’s interlocutor with the Republican candidate if he wins the U.S. election in November. Her alliance with Musk could also make her a useful intermediary with the X owner, given his spats with EU officials.