Columns

When the hysterical meltdown of a superpower takes place in the full glare of television cameras, there is a certain horrified fascination in watching the catastrophe unfold, given the repercussions for the world.

Mr Trump as the ‘peacemaker’

‘You are gambling with world war three’ United States President Donald Trump snarled at visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office with Vice President JD Vance smirking by his side. Mr Trump’s typically egoistic characterisation of himself as a ‘mediator’ or a ‘facilitator’ of peace was capped by the classically hilarious line of ‘hoping that I will be remembered as a peacemaker.’

More eye-wateringly funny claims followed, most notably that, ‘I’ve stopped wars that never started…’ and ‘my whole life, I make deals, this (Russia-Ukraine war) is a mess that I am in the middle of.’ These assertions were sugar coating for an ugly style of no-holds barred transactional bargaining that characterises his style of leadership. This time around however, that bombastic verbosity blew up in his face as the Ukrainian President refused to conform to the skin-crawling toadying of most world leaders to US might.

Mr Zelensky went spectacularly off-script by challenging the US Vice President to explain how the ‘path to peace is through diplomacy’ with no security guarantees for Ukraine even as her rare earth minerals were being handed over to the United States. Mr Vance was reminded that, ‘Russia invaded large parts of the Ukraine and the Crimea in 2014. After that, we had several US Presidents, Obama, Trump, Biden…no one stopped Mr Putin.’

What is this diplomacy?

The Ukrainian President added that, ‘in 2019, we signed ceasefires but he broke them, he did not exchange prisoners…so, what kind of diplomacy are you talking about, JD?’ Mr Vance responded by blandly talking of ‘diplomacy that will end the destruction of Ukraine’ and alleging the forcible recruiting of conscripts. In turn, he was asked if he had ever travelled to Ukraine and if he was speaking on verified facts?

Spluttering in reply, the US Vice President snapped that Mr Zelensky was ‘disrespectful’ to ‘litigate this question in front of the American media…’ After that, the press conference degenerated into chaos with the US President and his deputy losing themselves in undignified hissy fits as they berated Mr Zelensky for not being ‘thankful enough, grateful enough’ to acknowledge US military support for Ukraine.

Setting that crass tone earlier, a boorish US reporter had asked the Ukrainian President why he did not wear a suit ‘which shows a lack of respect?’ and whether ‘he owns a suit at all? ‘ Mr Zelensky’s response was classic; ‘Maybe I will wear a suit after the war ends, maybe something like what you wear, maybe something better or maybe something cheaper.’ This graceless comedy show took place with the US President and the uncouth reporter later exchanging grinning nods.

Disrespect and not diplomacy in issue

That crude exchange speaks volumes for the state of American democracy, let alone basic rules of politeness. Perhaps this reporter may break out of redneck insularity and acquaint himself with the historical singularity of attire as a deliberate form of defiance. That defiance was strikingly epitomised (albeit in a different context) in the early part of the last century by Mahatma Gandhi’s discarding of western clothing for the simple khadi dhoti and a shawl as a mode of protest.

As he brought the British empire in India crashing around its ears, this sight of a khadi-clad Gandhi once led British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, to describe him in a bout of enraged colonial over-lordship, as the ‘half naked fakir striding up the steps of the viceregal palace.’ In contrast, Mr Zelensky’s normal casual style of clothing would have been far from any deliberate act of disrespect.

But it was disrespect and not diplomacy that was the tenor of the Oval Office debacle. To say that this was an ‘embarrassment to the US’ as former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice put it, is an understatement. Mr Zelensky’s position was that first, Ukraine will not accept a ceasefire with Russia without security guarantees, as Russia had broken multiple ceasefires. ‘Even right now, Mr Putin is using ballistics on our schools, our hospitals…’ he said.

A staged drama in the Oval Office

Secondly, the two sides of the conflict (Russia and Ukraine) must negotiate, not US and Russia, as Russia did not start a war with the US). Infuriating Mr Trump who claimed that the only way out for a ‘destroyed Ukraine’ was through a ceasefire, Mr Zelensky corrected him by saying, ‘Mr President, our cities are intact, our children go to school, our people go to work, we are not destroyed. Ukraine is alive.’ Thirdly, if a clear stand is not taken against Russia’s aggression, the invasion of the Baltic States and Poland may be next.

Staggered by this unprecedented uproar, critical observers have pointed out that the ‘hijacking’ of the Oval Office event by the US Vice President was with the blessings of his chief. In other words, from the Ukrainian President being questioned on his attire to Mr Trump and his deputy indulging in verbal Wild West cowboy antics, the drama was staged. ‘There is no question that this was a set up to show fealty to the Russian President’, former Ambassador Rice said.

Few would disagree with her. Mr Trump’s Secretary of State was asked as to why he insisted that Mr Zelensky should apologise. ‘For so antagonistically questioning the Vice President’, he said. But that query (‘what is the diplomacy that you are talking of, JD?’) addresses the core of the madness that American leadership has become on the world stage. In fact, a journalist from Poland put the matter in a nutshell as he recalled that, ‘as a kid’, his country had been under Russian occupation.

Is the US ‘a force for good’?

Then, the Polish people had looked to the US not only for its power but also as a ‘force for good.’ His question to the US President was simple; ‘my people think that you are too closely aligned to Mr Putin, do you have a message for them?’ The answer was perhaps the only sensible part of an otherwise bad conversation. Mr Trump said, ‘I cannot scold the man and then broker a peace deal with him.’

He added that “I am aligned with the world, not with Russia.’ But the world does not exactly align with the US in regard to its refusal to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine or atrocities which the State of Israel has perpetuated on Gaza. Mr Trump’s trumpeted boast was that ‘Mr Putin respects me, he will not break a deal.’

Is this what US diplomacy amounts to now, a dangerously isolationist rejection of traditional allies and temper tantrums hinging on wardrobe choices of visiting world leaders? Diplomacy based on deals struck simply because “Mr Putin respects Mr Trump?’ To be clear, what we see is not just a radical dismantling of the international rules-based order established following the 20th century’s deadly world wars leaving millions dead.

Temper tantrums in the White House

Far worse, it is the US allying itself with fascist geopolitical forces in a chilling repeat of history. Mr Trump’s extraordinarily immature behaviour brings to mind a red faced (and orange haired) bully in the schoolyard. Perchance it needed a comedian-President (Ukraine) to face off against a bully-President (US). Even so, the repercussions of these tantrums reverberate beyond the US, Russia and Ukraine.

Clearly it is the US President – not his Ukrainian counterpart – who has become the biggest security threat to the world.