The Imperial Duet

IN THE THEATRE OF SUMMITRY, that was a rare piece where the last sigh belonged to a peace-loving audience that genuinely feared the stage would collapse under the weight of multiple stars. The collapse did occur when a pared-down but rumbustious version was staged earlier in the Oval Office, starring just three, in which the quarrelsome Ukrainian was reprimanded for his thanklessness by the American president and his aggressive deputy. This time, the Compassionate Seven from Europe and the UK were there to escort the war-scarred Ukrainian to the court of the American Dementor. He came out alive, thanks to the shield of the seven, and returned home empty-handed to face renewed Russian drone attacks. He could not even extract a vague promise on ceasefire before the terms of peace could be negotiated. It did achieve one big thing though: in the great global whirl, the only steady organism is Donald Trump. It was more about stealing the show than being bothered about the content. The sight of such a gallery of supplicants trying to influence his instinct, if such a thing was ever possible, itself was satisfying for someone still seeking the validation of his presidency from a cruel history—and an appreciation from the Nobel Committee.

The White House multi-starrer cannot be understood without returning to the Alaska prologue. On the grandeur scale, the power parade of the two scored higher. They were natural adversaries—or secret allies. Both the host and the guest were wounded nationalists. Trump is president because he has taken persistence to pathological heights. There is no ideological core to the Trump universe, unlike the various forms of socialism and conservatism that prefixed his predecessors’ terms. The replacement of the ideological with the oversized personal has not affected a coherent vision of American power, which must be as unrestrained as his own character. MAGA is a slogan born of the excessiveness of nationalism and the exaggeration of self-confidence. Whether it’s the trade war or the marketing of shotgun peace deals, it all comes down to one image: an America that can veto freedom, presided over by a man, elected but still disapproved by the elite, who can listen only to his inner voice. The wound has not healed because power has not minimised his usurper status, and his character flaws have made him the most lampooned leader in presidential history.

The man who walked the red carpet, too, carried within him the grievances of being a nationalist mistreated by a history manipulated by the West. To send tanks to Ukraine was for him an act of correction by someone who is still indebted to the Soviet Union. A sovereign Ukraine was an error of history, and a gateway to powers scheming against Russia. To build a Greater Russia from the ruins of the Soviet empire was the only mission a nationalist floating in the past should have. Even geography would not be allowed to stand in the way of his fantasy. Putin as President Forever, in his telling, is a historical as well as cultural necessity, for a diminished Russia in the post-Soviet world is a humiliation. Putin won’t take it, even if it means his nationalism strictly follows the script of fascism in power. His demand for Ukraine’s unconquered territory as a precondition for ceasefire can only come from his belief in the redemptive powers of tyranny. In Alaska, Trump was appreciative of his guest’s sentiments, a gesture denied to others in Trump’s vicinity.

It is the possibilities of hurt and humiliation that unite them. The imperial presidency of Trump is built on one man’s impulses that do not give a damn about institutional conventions or political decencies. No nation dares to challenge the imperium openly; everyone is still hoping for a deal. Putin could be an exception, for, the only deal the imperium of his mind seeks is with a history without justice. He came to Alaska just to humour a man he all along knew was an admirer of his Slavic machismo. Neither of them really cared for the little guy from Kyiv, asking for the impossible and still standing. The spectacle of peace-making gave the Russian an opportunity to take his grievance right to the rotten heart of Western culture. The host loved the theatre, and the guest the message.

In the imperial duet of the hurt and the humiliated, Volodymyr Zelensky remained the lone spectator resisting a deal with the devil(s).

Alaska summitDonald TrumpGlobal trade tariff warPutinVolodymyr Zelensky