Trump labeled 'king of petty' as CNN panel bursts into laughter over his bizarre spat

President Donald Trump’s bizarre and ongoing spat with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sparked a chorus of laughter on CNN Sunday morning as panelists mocked the president’s “childish” behavior and issued him a new nickname.

The spat kicked off on Friday after Trump told a local Italian news outlet that he felt “sorry” for Meloni after she had “begged” him for a photograph together. Meloni called Trump’s story “completely made up” and has since fired back at the president for what she called his “fabrication.” Trump has doubled and tripled down on his story, however, reigniting the spat on Saturday with a social media post.

Georgia-based journalists Ernie Sugg and JaQuitta Williams attempted to get to the bottom of Trump’s quarrel with Meloni and proposed a few theories.

“It's an issue for the president because first of all, she went against him in his criticism of the Pope, so he's upset about that,” said Sugg while on CNN.

“And, all of our traditional allies since 1918 are not on board with this war, he's upset with that, so he's picking on her. Whether or not [she] said it – she says she never ‘begged’ for a photo – even for him to bring that up as a talking point is just so childish and so juvenile.”

Williams issued her own assessment of Trump by issuing him a new nickname.

“He's the king of petty, forget 'president,'” Williams said. “The other thing is too, he has a way of making things up in his mind and saying them over and over to make them be true, so probably in his mind she begged... that woman probably didn't open her mouth.”

Sugg asked aloud why, even assuming Trump’s version of events was accurate, he would bother dragging the spat into the public eye.

“Because he's the king of petty!” Williams declared, sparking an eruption of laughter from the panel.