Trump, who made his name with the American public on The Apprentice, the heavily scripted hire-or-fire television programme that turned bullying into a form of entertainment, effectively “fired” Zelensky in their heated Oval Office meeting.

By doing so, he confirmed all the unspoken doubts of the US’s European partners.

Unlike Macron and Starmer, who used flattery and the gentlest of critical rebuke in their audiences, Zelensky faced open hostility by being dismissed as a “dictator” and was pressured to sign over Ukraine’s mineral wealth without security guarantees.

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