One thing you can say about Trump: what you see is what you get.
Not for him the stealth of a lion stalking his prey. Instead we have the proverbial elephant in a china shop creating mayhem wherever he turns. It’s not a pretty sight.
Over this past month, all the niceties of statecraft have been chucked out of the window, and left piling up on the White House lawn.
Meanwhile, back in the ‘normal’ world – or at least the world that passes for normal – the rest of us look on agog, unsure of how to respond lest the rogue elephant turn his sights to our precious tea sets.
Michelle O’Neill’s decision to eschew Guinness and Tayto crisp sandwiches in the Oval Office is a rare example of a party leader taking a stance against Trump, in her case, on Gaza.
But, to be fair, the advantages for her on the home front far outweigh any risk slighting the US president.
Although he has the support (sadly) of many Irish Americans, his interest in this side of the Atlantic Ocean (has he renamed it the American Ocean yet?) is limited to golf and maybe a factory in Ringaskiddy that churns out little blue tablets.
The world leader with most to lose from the Trump presidency is Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky – the man who has led resistance to Vladimir Putin’s predatory ambitions to recreate the USSR, and whose country has paid an enormous sacrifice resisting Russia’s invasion and the subjugation of its people.
Transactional as ever, Trump has made it clear that what he wants from Ukraine is its wealth – in the form of billions of dollars on rare minerals.
He is not interested in sovereignty, freedom, and justice – just filthy lucre and the resources to fuel the American economy.
Trump is not interested in sovereignty, freedom, and justice – just filthy lucre and the resources to fuel the American economy
And he is prepared to get into bed with Putin to achieve his ends.
Between them, the United States and Russian Federation intend to turn Ukraine into a client state, and like conquerors throughout the generations they want to share the spoils of war. It is obscene in the fullest sense of the word.
The monstering of Zelensky – accused by Trump of being the aggressor, of behaving like a dictator and of ignoring democracy – is part of the Trump-Putin plan to deprive Ukraine of its liberty.
It’s a clear attempt to destroy the country’s morale and decapitate its leadership.
In the meantime, Europe (which has a lot to lose from an emboldened Russia) is caught like a rabbit in the headlights, uncertain about how to respond to a former ally which has so clearly thrown its lot in with the enemy. The stink of appeasement is in the air.
We don’t have to go back too far into the history books to see the consequences of appeasement.
I am always cautious about using the Nazis as a reference point lest it disrespect those who lost their lives in the Holocaust; but the echoes with the 1930s are uncomfortably clear.
We are witnessing again the rise of the extreme right, the othering of vulnerable people and the targeting of specific groups – whether they be Mexican immigrants in the United States, Ukrainians in Europe, or Palestinians in the Middle East.
As Hitler did in Germany, Trump is rewriting history in the United States, ignoring constitutional protections, dismantling the state, and removing those he believes are standing in his way.
We may not be at the stage where books are being burned, but books are being removed from libraries and debate is being quashed by a compliant media controlled by oligarchs who support America’s new ‘king’.
Europe cannot ride two horses. It must choose between Trump and Zelensky.
It must recognise that Trump no longer sees Europe as an ally; and it must face up to the fact that an unspoken North Atlantic Treaty now exists between the United States and Russia.
We are close to the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The sacrifice of the Ukrainian people has been enormous. They have taken on the burden of a war they did not choose, not just in defence of their own freedoms, but of our freedoms too.
We cannot, must not, let them down now.
An end to the conflict, peace with security, is the right of all Ukrainians. And peace there must and will be.
But that peace must be negotiated by Ukrainians, not imposed on them by two world powers interested only in satisfying their own selfish desires.
Plain-speaking Trump has made it clear where his interest lies, and it is not on the side of Ukraine; nor is on the side of Europe.
Wake up Europe. Slava Ukraini – Glory to Ukraine.