The screens in his office all broadcast similar images, as if he is watching the same television show. It’s hard to fathom. It’s as if Hollywood only produces a single star. The hero appears to be the same every time. A provocative red tie occasionally makes way for a blue one. A clenched fist that never tires. He welcomes several top officials. He threatens to impose sanctions and then strikes deals. He takes part in an event that turns into the event. A summit loses some of its luster if he is not there. He makes outrageous statements when he is pleased and when he is upset.
He is criticized by journalists, who still follow him wherever he goes. They clamor to report on his missteps, which he subverts into victories and opportunities to mock his critics. He is cleverer than them. He is more skilled than them in seizing opportunities, promoting, marketing and in making headlines. His message is blunt: I am the most powerful man in the world’s most powerful country. He is not worried about the government shutdown. He is not fazed by headlines that used to alarm his predecessors. Hatred against him fuels his ambition. The world has never been more divided over a figure. This is the joy of leadership and the secret of its brilliance.
A single man occupies several screens. He grows frustrated. Is that jealousy he is feeling? The czar has no right to be jealous because it’s more than enough for him to be a czar. The master of the White House is just a temporary employee. The czar is the forever ruler. The constitution is a sword that threatens the US president. It punishes him and sets limits to his time in office. Great Russia does not enjoy living under temporary rulers. The czar is not an employee in a constitutional republic; rather the constitution is a waiter in the czar’s office.
He once rejoiced at Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office. He expected that he would soon wash his hands clean of Ukraine and force it to sign its surrender. He once dreamed of claiming a crushing victory and of convincing the Russians that the Ukrainian adventure was worth all the blood and tears. He discovered that the chaotic man was more challenging and dangerous than he once believed. He sets dates for him and threatens sanctions if he is late in meeting them, as if he were summoning him to these meetings against his will. He refuses to heed them.
He cannot forgive the West for its grave crime of slaughtering the Soviet Union without firing a single bullet. It died because it was attracted to the western model. The West broke it up and seized several of its assets. The Russian spirit yearned for one man, and he was the one. He renovated the Russian Federation and prepared to close the chapter of its weakness to embark on the mission to reclaim what was taken from it. He launched the war on Ukraine to discipline the treasonous sister and deplete the West. It’s not enough to just go to war; it is important to return early from it and to return victorious. This did not happen. The elderly Europe was generous to Zelenskyy, while the key to the solution lies in the hands of the loud American.
A couple of weeks ago, Trump flew to Sharm el-Sheikh and the spotlight followed. He alone was capable of forcing Benjamin Netanyahu to end the genocidal war he was waging in Gaza. Trump held all the strings. He announced victory and appeared to be reshaping the Middle East.
The post-Al-Aqsa Flood Operation phase has been very difficult on Russia. It was incapable of saving Iran’s position in Syria and incapable of saving Bashar al-Assad, who Iran had saved a decade ago when it intervened in Syria. The most it could do now was grant Assad asylum in its country.
Ahmed al-Sharaa came to power in Syria and Recep Tayyip Erdogan dealt a fatal blow to Iran’s role in some parts of the region. Sharaa is working tirelessly to preserve his country’s unity and rebuild it. He wants to strike the right balance in the region and knows full well that Trump holds the key. The new Syria is nothing like Assad’s Syria.
He continues to watch the screens. Trump steals the spotlight whenever he is invited to an event, which he turns into a spectacle. He has important stops on his Asian tour, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, as well as his major date with Xi Jinping. Before heading on the tour, he played his cards, proposing attractive deals or threatening sanctions. He wants to prove that America is still a central power in Asia despite its rapid changes. This concerns the fate of the two Koreas and his prickly friend Kim Jong Un. This concerns the future of Taiwan and the current Chinese emperor’s dream of reclaiming it.
The major player now only has to claim a position for himself in history. Has the war in Ukraine hampered his ability to maneuver? Will the next Russian leader attack his legacy the way Khrushchev once did to Stalin? He was the promising rising star at the beginning of the 21st century. He was celebrated across capitals and his image was broadcast across the screens. Now, the end of the first quarter of the century is ending with a series of American spectacles across the screens. Thailand and Cambodia signed a ceasefire agreement under Trump’s watchful eyes. The master of the White House believes his successive economic and political attacks are part of his peacemaking efforts.
Putin had come to power to restore the great Russia that was humiliated by the West and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now, Trump wants to make America great again by pursuing its interests through great spectacles. The master of the Kremlin eyes his nuclear arsenal, while the master of the White House eyes the Nobel Peace Prize.
