OPINION
President Trump can come across as the diplomatic equivalent of a wrecking ball (Image: Getty)
Donald Trump is a master of the politics of shock but he is more than an outrage merchant. He is on a mission to earn his place on Mount Rushmore by securing breakthroughs where his genteel predecessors floundered.
Not long ago, one of the great worries was that America would turn inward on his watch and no longer play a leading role in the great security challenges of our time.
But in the past week Sir , Emmanuel Macron and beat a path to the White House. Trump is a ringmaster and he relishes the global spotlight.
He casts himself as the master of the deal who can transform warzones into utopias. The anxiety now is not that he retreats from international crises but that he stitches up a settlement on the future of which humiliates Zelensky, rewards Putin, weakens the entire Western alliance and sets the scene for another invasion.
The shouting match between Trump, Zelensky and Vice President JD Vance looked like a disaster for everyone yearning for a just and secure peace. Diplomats will cling to the hope that this is just the latest stunt from someone who can call a counterpart a dictator one day and then deny knowledge of the outburst.
He certainly knows exactly how to scandalise fellow world leaders. No British prime minister would dare suggest that France accepts the reign of King Charles and joins Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England in the United Kingdom’s family of nations – but Trump openly muses on how Canada could become the 51st US state.
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The president cannot be cavalier about . A catastrophe here would doom his legacy and guarantee him a wretched obituary. If the state collapses during his presidency and millions of Ukrainians flee across Europe his time in power would be certified a failure.
He has a vital role to play in preventing this scenario – and Sir Keir will be desperate to stop Trump leaving and Europe to a miserable fate. But it is highly unlikely Trump will start acting like a “normal” president.
Why? Because he believes a succession of normal presidents have failed to deliver peace in the and the Middle East, just as he blames them for letting China prosper while America’s industrial heartland has rusted.
Crucially, he believes his unorthodox approach to statecraft works.
His ambitions to get hold of Greenland are not as utterly bizarre as may have first appeared. It is much more than a giant expanse of snow and ice.
Greenland is rich in vital minerals and occupies a position of crucial strategic importance. Trump was a teenager during the Cuban Missile Crisis; he will remember the terror which gripped families when nuclear war seemed a button’s press away.
Protecting Greenland from Russian or Chinese influence should be a priority for any NATO member. Within hours of Trump uttering his remarks the Danish Government announced an increase of more than £1billion in defence spending for the territory.
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A similar spectacle has taken place here in the UK. Trump has raged for years at NATO members which have paltry defence budgets and now the threat of US disengagement has shocked European premiers into thinking seriously about their militaries.
When Sir Keir stood for the Labour leadership it is highly unlikely he intended to cut foreign aid spending so he could funnel cash into our armed forces. But that is exactly what happened last week.
Trump is also angry about illegal migrants and deadly fentanyl coming into the US. Mexico responded to his tariff threats by moving hundreds of troops north to the border and has extradited underworld figures while Canada appointed a “fentanyl czar”.
Perhaps his greatest success is commanding the respect of democratic peers. Trump was in danger of pariah status after his supporters stormed the US Congress on January 6, 2021.
Now he has the French president touching his thigh and the British prime minister handing over an invitation from the King for an unprecedented second state visit.
In the days, weeks and years ahead, people may well wonder who has been played by whom.
The people of will hope Trump understands a deal which sells-out their nation and rewards Putin will render him one of history’s great scoundrels.
As the conflict enters a critical stage, they will pray that this greatest of American showmen is not outfoxed by the Kremlin.