It was as bitchy as it was dramatic. Donald Trump and JD Vance gave a live dressing-down to Volodymyr Zelenskyy in front of the world’s TV cameras, in a combined two-thronged attack that would have even Big Brother’s producers quaking in their boots.
One could have mistaken it for some classic school playground bullying: two gang members going up against one individual for his lunch money. It is easy to forget that, on paper, this is all about a mineral deal that both sides may or may not need, but that neither side wants.
Add to that the effect of the TV cameras – Zelenskyy is a competent and charming individual in his own right: he was an actor after all, and even won the Ukrainian Strictly Come Dancing. Yet Donald Trump had plenty of time to perfect his hard-bargaining persona on The Apprentice, and JD Vance is a suave and telegenic performer, who could spin a story in a wholly uncouth manner and sound as convincing as Sir David Attenborough next to a gorilla. Both Trump and Vance know how to play up for the cameras, whereas Zelenskyy has only learned English in the last few years.
Step 1: A dressing-down over dress sense
What was shaping up to be a normal meeting got off on an awkward footing with a seemingly bizarre question, asking Zelenskyy if he would dare to come to the White House without a suit. Frequent news junkies will know that Zelenskyy has donned a black jumper and trouser set with a tryzub, his country’s coat of arms, and grown a beard, making a transition from the smooth, polished actor-turned-president, to a battle-hardened national defender. He also mentioned he wouldn’t wear a suit until the war was over. It’s easier to spot the subtext this way: “Do you even have a suit?” really meant “Are you really coming to end the war?” It spun what had been an advantage to Zelenskyy for so long into a slightly unfair attack. Trump only helped to stir the post with his snide remark in front of journalists that he had “come all dressed up today”, as Zelenskyy got out of his taxi.
So it appears that yes, the question was indeed a Trump plant. The one asking it was a right-wing media commentator called Brian Glenn. He’s been photographed with Trump and is currently dating his Congressional culture war warrior Marjorie Taylor Greene. It’s also emblematic of the way Trump got to the presidency: asking the questions people might have been thinking, but – to borrow a phrase – the “fake news” would stay far too polite to ask. He’s also part of the White House Press Pool, the journalists picked to have access to the President, which has recently changed from being selected by a journalists’ association to being hand-picked by the White House, allowing Trump to give airtime to friendly outlets.
The lunchtime bullies got a friendly ally to accost the victim as he left the classroom, exercise books and a £2 coin in hand. Zelenskyy was understandably taken aback and gave a panicked answer. Step 1 complete.
Step 2: Wheel out the attack dog at the right time
JD Vance was only known as an author before 2022, when he won his Senate election. But in 2024, Trump picked him as his running mate. I was critical of the appointment at the time – why pander to your base when you’ve already got the MAGA crowd devoted to you? But that Friday we saw why it was a savvy move.
Vance is a figure who can keep his cool even in the toughest situations. In September 2024’s unexpectedly civil vice-presidential debate, he may have lost in surveys of Americans, but his smooth and charming delivery showed he could tell us that pigs could fly and we might just believe it.
This high-pressure real life TV drama showed us how this Law graduate could carefully construct an argument to defend his superior, and simultaneously dissect his opponent while under cross-examination. After around forty minutes of waiting, Vance pounced from the opposite sofa. Just like Brian Glenn before him, Vance gave a seemingly innocuous statement, without revealing the subtext. “You should be thanking this President for trying to bring an end to this conflict… Have you said ‘thank you’ once this entire meeting? No.”
A lecture to Zelenskyy about the state of his own country, with a pointed finger that might remind you of Trump himself.
Thanking Trump? Zelenskyy would acknowledge that he was negotiating with someone higher in the diplomatic order than him. Accepting that they wouldn’t negotiate on an equal footing: Ukraine would always be asking for something from the USA, not an equal exchange as that all-important minerals deal was hyped up to be. All Ukrainian hopes unravelling on live TV. It might seem obvious to thank Trump, but diplomatically that could give ‘The Art of the Deal’ author an advantage in the backroom negotiations.
Zelenskyy tried to sidestep the question, protesting that he shouldn’t be lectured by someone who barely knew what his country was going through. Vance, meanwhile, knew he’d found a hole, and that it was good to keep digging. Defense Secretary Marco Rubio sat quietly: he’d better let JD Vance do the talking.
It was raw, and tough to watch. Not even theatre. Who needs The Traitors, when you can see what happens when a faction gangs up to target one person through shouting matches?
The two school bullies have got their victim riled up: he’s out of place, it’s one man against two (and three if required: Rubio is still in the background). It’s at this moment that the administration pulls out their Trump card. Step 2 complete.
Step 3: Hocus POTUS
It’s bizarre how much Zelenskyy and Trump share when you think about it. Neither of them got the top job through political experience: Trump’s exhilarating run in 2016 energised a base neglected by politicians and capitalised on an anti-establishment feeling; Zelenskyy won his election by a landslide in 2019, by playing an accidental president in TV drama Servant of the People. Channel 4 broadcast it here not long after the 2022 invasion.
Back to the argument. With Zelenskyy and Vance’s tug of war in tow, Trump took the opportunity to do what he does best: talk over people and win both the argument at hand and the headlines that come with it. We saw it first in 2016, with Trump, seen as a joke candidate against Republican big guns like Jeb Bush (whatever happened to him?), turning the tables, and the Republican Party primaries with it. We’ve missed it in 2020 and 2024, with debate rules keeping Trump to his podium.
Now, Trump can wade in. “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now.” It’s harsh, and it’s allowed us to see Trump at his worst.
It’s worth taking a side note here about the stage design. Remember that this is a very small, intimate arena set up around a right angle: Zelenskyy is on one side next to Trump, each in their individual chairs. On the other axis sit Vance and Rubio. All within about a two-metre space, surrounded by journalists hand-picked by one side, and the TV cameras. It’s a small, very oppressive setup, to put them close together and make the atmosphere unfriendly. The chairs are slightly rotated inwards, so Trump is allowed to admonish Zelenskyy from right next to him, while Zelenskyy also sees Vance and Rubio staring at him opposite. There’s no way for Zelenskyy to ignore them or play to the cameras, while Trump is sat perfectly so that he can rotate between Zelenskyy and the lens facing him. It looked ugly, it felt uncomfortable, but it did the job. Step 2-and-a-half complete.
Trump continues with a harsh rebuke. “You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War 3 and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have.”
It’s a bitter pill to swallow. It will take a while for history to evaluate what to think of the Ukraine conflict. It reminds me of the Winter War – Finland’s 1939 battle against the Soviet Union enveloped by World War 2; a similar story of Russian forces invading an innocent neighbour and the latter holding up unexpectedly well. Should the Finns, as Trump seems to imply about Ukrainians, have held on for as long as they have done? It will be for tomorrow’s History graduates to decide.
What followed was a barrage of Trump criticism. Zelenskyy tries to counter it, but Trump has started, and he can’t stop. He allows himself to roll back the years to 2016 with a slight shove of Zelenskyy’s left arm. Step 3 complete; mission accomplished.
Neither the school bully nor the victim have got fully what they wanted – in Zelenskyy’s case, continued aid for his country; in Trump’s case, rare earth minerals on American terms. Trump and Zelenskyy’s joint press conference, planned for after backroom negotiations, was cancelled. Zelenskyy still keeps hold of that £2 coin Trump wanted.
Perhaps this is the Art of the Deal in Trump’s view: if he can’t get what he wants this time, let Ukraine get bashed and get a better offer. Maybe he’ll be able to pinch £3.50 off Zelenskyy rather than £2. Trump views geopolitics as a business transaction, and back, stronger than ever, he and Elon Musk have been allowed to dictate the passage of play. There are whispers in the media that the whole event was a setup to force Zelenskyy to resign: it seems an overreaction, but there was no way that he could have come out of this three-on-one mélee well. He was almost set up to fail.
It felt like a landmark moment in the war, made for television. Zelenskyy went ahead with an interview with Fox News soon after where he could set the record straight. Intended as a victory lap after successfully striking an advantageous mineral deal, Zelenskyy was forced to play catch-up.
Overall, it was a testy exchange, where normal diplomacy flew out of the room for theatre choreographed to play to Trump’s strengths. This in turn forced Zelenskyy to underplay his hand. It left all parties sick in the mouth – Moscow, on the other hand, grabbed the popcorn.
The Washington Post newspaper, which famously refused to endorse Kamala Harris against Trump last election, has a motto that “democracy dies in darkness”. On 28 February 2025, old-style diplomacy died in the light: the lights of the cameras of live TV.