I’ve no sympathy at all for Zelensky. He allowed himself to be a vehicle for a bunch of warmongers in the US and Europe. He got used to being treated as a star everywhere he went because Biden was standing behind him, and then he mistook US power for the power of his own charisma.

But my heart bleeds for all the rest of us, who must try to survive in a world where meetings between POTUS and other heads of government can be so publicly out of control and incendiary.

Tools of the US have in the past been dumped more brutally than has yet happened to Zelensky. But it hasn’t been done face to face in the Oval Office, in front of the whole world. And it hasn’t been done as a part of a series of meetings with world leaders.
Starmer and Macron will be relieved their meetings went no worse than they did. Starmer will be remembering how Trump’s treatment of him as a kind of teacher’s pet stopped just short of undeniable humiliation. He’ll be reflecting on how little it might have taken for things to go very badly indeed.

Maybe the Zelensky train crash wasn’t an accident. Maybe Trump and Vance planned it. Was it actually Vance that triggered it? But how is the next leader who visits the White House to be sure of what has been planned for them? Leaders who haven’t yet had their audience at the White House will be wondering how they can avoid it.

It remains to be seen how European leaders will respond. It will be hard for them to avoid doubling down on their support for Zelensky, despite the folly of doing so. I don’t think that’s the outcome Trump was seeking.