Zelensky vs Trump: When Character And Ego Stretched Diplomacy Beyond Elastic Limit

By: A. G. Abubakar

The altercations were as hot as they were undiplomatic. The setting? The Oval Office of the White House, the seat of the US government. The combatants were Presidents Donald Trump of the US and Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. The contention? Trump, trying to stampede Zelensky into commiting to a ceasefire process that Zelensky considered injurious to his nation’s national interest. Trump had wanted the Ukrainian leader to enter into a deal that would give the US the mining right over Ukraine’s rare earth minerals which include lithium, as a repayment of the billions of dollars worth of weapons the US supplied to Ukraine. Zelensky didn’t object to the arrangement but had wanted the agreement to be equitable and also backed by a security guarantee to forestall future Russia invasion.

In the wake of the 2022 full invasion of Ukraine by its neighbouring Russia, the country sought and secured military support of the US that has been allegedly valued by Trump to be worth $350 billion (still counting) under the erswhile President Biden. Trump, who inherited the three-year conflict, bragged and vowed to end the war on his first day in office, as he prides himself the best deal-maker the world has ever seen.

Two months down the line, the war still rages on. A development the self-styled global “peace maker” found difficult to come to terms with, making him to act in desperation. Maybe just to redeem his self-ascribed ability as a negotiator extraordinaire. Narcissist Trump considers himself, the best thing that ever happened to humanity after the invention of sliced bread! It was this inflated ego that Zelensky got bruised and deflated by not submitting to his proposed “deal” on the mineral right so long as it will not include guarantee from future Russian attacks. This set the tune for the heated exchanges that was to follow. In Trump’s corner during the formal dialogue was JD Vance his Vice President and hype-man. Now a recap.

The first trigger was pulled by Vance. He went on the offensive by accusing Zelensky of coming “to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country.”

Zelensky; “A lot of questions, let’s start from the beginning. First of all during the war, everybody has problems, even you. But you have a nice ocean and don’t feel it now, but you will feel it in the future. God bless, you know.”

Trump; “Don’t tell us what we are going to feel…..you are not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.”

Zelensky; “I am not playing cards.”

Trump; “You are gambling with World War III. And what you are doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you.”
He continued, ” You are not winning this. We gave you through this st-pid president $350 billion….If you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks.”

Zelensky, (sarcastically); “In three days, I heard it from Putin,” insinuating that Trump was doing Putin’s bidding.
In frustration, Trump ended by saying, “it’s going to be a very difficult thing to do business like this again. And the curtain falls. Trump left sulking and looking furlon. His rough rider approach to diplomacy has failed him. The power balance may be stack against Ukraine a nation of 38 million souls which is about the size of America’s state of California (38.8m), but Zelensky stood on a higher moral ground; a security guarantee for his people.

Wonders shall never end. For Trump of all people to admonish someone against triggering a WW III is really intriguing. For, it was Trump, in pursuit of his isolationist agenda that started the dismemberment of global order by breaking every fabric of rule and regulation, aside pulling the US out of many of the international organisations that sought to promote universal values and unity. Trump’s attitude during the engagement really speaks to his inconsistent mindset. Another takeaway from the encounter was that Trump usually coils back when his victims fight back in equal measure. A trait, other world leaders should leverage on when it comes to engaging with the American President. The strategy is, never give him an inch!

The bully in Trump couldn’t work against Zelensky. The “art of negotiation” failed him, too. In the end planned mineral mining deal could not be signed as well. Americans and indeed the whole world were left in shock at how empty and shallow President Trump turned out to be. A dejavu of his political campaign times.The mediocrity and poor application of “power” in diplomacy by the American president should be a cause for global worry. Trump, phase two, is “bad market” in Nigerian a parlance.

The build-up to the Oval Office showdown wasn’t less checkered either. Trump had wanted to pull a first one on Ukraine and its European sympathisers. He arranged a “peace” meeting to find a solution to the Ukraine-Russia crisis but without Kyiv’s participation. Naturally, Ukraine felt sidelined and dully said so. The EU lent its voice by saying that next time, there should be “no talk about Ukraine/Europe, without Europe/Ukraine.” Trump got livid and called Zelensky a dictator, who may soon have “no country” left.

He accused the EU of being ineffective, even though the region has been behind the major global wars in history. Zelensky shot back by saying Trump was living in “disinformation space.” That was the forerunner to the ill-fated diplomatic talks that were meant to find peace between Russia and Ukraine, under Trump’s brokerage. The current bad blood may also not be unconnected with infamous call between the two in 2019 which led to Trump’s impeachment inquiry. The import of callwas for Zelenskyl to provide an incriminating expose’ on alleged criminal bussiness dealings of Biden’s son Hunter, in Ukraine, which he refused. That was during the build-up to the 2019 elections in which Trump lost. He never forgave Zelensky.

Racism and institutional discrimination brought Trump back to power after a four-year hiatus. It’s however, unlikely that the same primordial sentiments could keep him comfortably in the driver’s seat. Not when his flawed character kept kicking in at every step of the governance way. Trump is a man in search of validation; an unsure character, and a pretender who suffers a reverse inferior complex.

Trump wants to be seen as an intellectual even when he comes across as less than average, intellectually. He wants to go down in history as a great ruler, forgetting that greatness is not measured in tantrums. Great leaders are those who do ordinary things in an extraordinary way with the greatest sustainable impact on society. Many may argue that Trump as a successful businessman, has been more than primed for the role of a political leadership. In reality, except for few overlapping elements, the ability to build a business empire is not a substitute for political craftsmanship. The values, sentiments, expectations etc characterising the two terrains are poles apart. One may handle business “solo,” but success in politics needs team spirit.

Trump is not a team player, unlike the great world leaders he has been posturing for a seat among. He visualises himself in mold of great American and indeed world leaders such as Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Reagan, Churchill, Thatcher, etc. Unfortunately, he lacks the philosophical depths, moral values, and emotional intelligence to achieve such an ambition.

Trump is a lover of politics, but he seems to be a conflicted student of the process. He often confuses two major concepts of politics, which are power and influence and the interplay of the two. Power, literally is the ability/capacity to force an action to be taken willingly or otherwise. Influence, on the other hand, has to do more with persuation and appeal. The application of either or a combination of both is a function of the situation at hand; contextual. While political actors seek to spread their influence at all time, they use power sparingly to enforce compliance.

For Trump, its all about raw power all the time. Maybe because of his background in a family business that was built on sole proprietorship where they could lock out other races from being part thereof. A situation where one person’s words are law with little direct check and balance; a free rein that has put his public service life in jeopardy. For, at the time of being sworn in on January 20th 2025, Trump was convicted on about 34 felony counts. He was also one of two US presidents to be impeached. He might have gotten away with baggage, but his place among American greats, which he strives to achieve, may, after all, turn out to be a mirage.

The deluge of executive orders (EOs) being heeped on Americans daily may prove unwieldy, in facilitating good governance. Trump signed about 26 EOs on day one of being sworn on. About six weeks later, the number has surpassed 75! This has put a lot of departments in confusion, as some of the orders are conflicting. His drive for efficiency in public service through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with hot-headed merverick, South Africa born Elon Musk, in charge, only added to the confusion. Musk, the world’s richest man who made his fortunes from ICT, treats government employees as AI-driven beings, prompting the Department of Justice (DOJ) to put a hold on some of the orders.

The worst hit groups have been the minorities and immigrants. Spurred by racist sentiments, Trump and Musk are poised to eliminate minority programmes such as the DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). Even those already in employment are not safe. Trump being an unrepentant or rather unrepentable racist bigot, blamed the unfortunate crash involving two aircrafts over the Potomac River near Washington on the presence of minorities in the aviation industry. Not done, Trump fired Gen. CQ Brown, one of only two people in history, of black extraction to serve as Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US forces. The other was the late Collin Powell who served under Bush. Brown’s crime was that, he might have been appointed to the position based on qouta. And the witch hunt goes on or so it seems. He however deserves a big salute for outlawing LGBTQ+, a moral perversion promoted by Obama and Biden governments.

The American foreign policy under Trump too, seems to be in a mess. The isolationist approach (America First, Make America Great Again) seems to be in direct contrast to a fast globalising world. Globalisation underpinned by interdependence through trade, finance, investment, and technology had turned the world into a “global village.” And the village administrator (s) include the US, China, and Russia.

The Trump policy of isolationism at best benefits the other two global claimants to the Super power space. Pulling out of such multilateral organisations like ICC, UNESCO, Paris Agreement on cl
Climate Change, Iran Nuclear Deal, WHO, etc great hegemony for global power contenders, that may hurt America’s future. The icing on the foreign blunder was the right/downsizing the operations of USAID, an international outreach involved in promoting America’s national interests using such clandestine operations like intelligence gathering as well as supporting non-state actors against adversaries.

Tariff has been a priority choice for Trump’s foreign economic policy components. After placing a 25% rate on its immediate neighbours, Mexico and Canada, he has placed between 15% and 20% rates on Chinese import. The countries concerned have reacted similarly. A tariff war is now on. Experts estimate that the new tariffs could add $172 in tax burden on the individual US household and also reduce the US GDP by $200 billion, eventually. A global trade war is an ill wind that blows no good to any country.

To compound the US foreign policy further, Trump came up with a bizarre territorial ambitions. He offered to purchase the Greenland from Finland and also expressed his desire to make Canada, America’s 51st state. He threatened to repossesse the Panama Canal because in his informed opinion the Chinese have taken ever the canal usage.

Another foreign policy blunder under Trump was his proposal to move the 2.5 million inhabitants of Gaza to neighbouring Egypt and Jordan for America to turn the strip into what he referred to as the Riveira of the Middle East. He naively believes that this arrangement would solve the Palestine- Israel perennial conflicts permanently. The Biden administration might not have done much for the Palestinians but supplanting them from Gaza is to take absurdity to the extreme. Not done, and probably acting out an Elon Musk script, Trump accused the South Africa government anti-white discrimination under it’s land redistribution programme. All the moves were pushed back in no uncertain terms across the globe.

.Put together, Trump seems to suffer from a challenged mindset that does not allow him to act according to his age and status. The plethora of crisis he creates both at home and abroad render him more as a psychopath. A big thank you to President Zelensky for demystifying the Trump persona. Henceforth, leaders across the world should stand with him toe to toe because that’s the only language he understands. He recoils under threat. Under the image of a tough guy, Trump is highly vulnerable to manipulation such as currently by Putin and Musk. He doesn’t really have a mind of his own when it comes to serious national and international challenges. He lacks focus and gravitas too.

America and indeed the free world has been sold a trojan house. Unfortunately they will have to live with the choice for the next four years. A price they have to pay for having a near 80 years bumkum on the White House, who too may not be enjoying the power so gotten by him. A case of “beauty can get a woman married, but it takes character and intuition to make the marriage a happy one.” So is national leadership.
A.G.Abubakar agbarewa@gmail.com

Zelensky vs Trump: When Character And Ego Stretched Diplomacy Beyond Elastic Limit