Trump-Zelenskyy Stage Grant Facing Thornton in ‘Love Actually’
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with US President Donald Trump and UK PM Kier Starmer (Image credit X.com)
Trump’s Poor Diplomacy, Zelensky’s Emotional Excess Top Thoughts Among Experts
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, March 2: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy got rousing reception in London. His royal welcome in the UK is in contrast to the ‘diplomatic scandal’ of decades in the Oval Office.
Former diplomats in their minute observations of the Oval Office spectacle faulted both Trump and Zelenskyy. A section of ex-diplomats was dismayed at poor diplomacy by Trump. Some faulted Zelenskyy of emotional excess.
“Whatever you think of the substance of his argument, or the behaviour of Trump and Vance, it’s just poor diplomacy in a foreign country,” said John Fowler, an ex-diplomat, in a comment on LinkedIn.
The White House correspondents in their detailed reports on Trump-Zelenskyy spat have spotlighted semi-military attire of Ukrainian President riling up US President. “Ohh, you’re all dressed up,” Trump remarked while receiving Zelenskyy.
“Was Zelenskyy taken unawares by this media scramble before the meeting took place? The press conference was later cancelled and obviously nothing was signed. But if brief comments turned into this scramble, it would explain why Zelenskyy was more emotional in his responses especially to (US Vice President) JD Vance’s comments,” noted Edo Naito, a Japanese foreign affairs commentator, in his analysis.
Former diplomat Michael Feller likened the spat to a scene from ‘Love Actually’. “If this causes him (Zelenskyy) to hold elections, I wouldn’t be surprised if it led to a spike in popularity. Nobody likes a bully, and he didn’t kowtow. Almost reminded me of that scene where Hugh Grant confronts Billy Bob Thornton in Love Actually,” commented Feller in an almost debate trail on LinkedIn on the Oval Office diplomatic fiasco.
In that ‘Love Actually’ scene, Grant, a newly appointed Prime Minister of the UK, confronts visiting US President Thornton for sexual harassment of a staffer. Thornton is shown a bully in the film.
Zelenskyy, in a curious chain of sequence, faced bullying in Washington. He saw a public display of affection for him and Ukraine in London a day after the Oval Office fiasco.
But the Ukrainian President possibly could have faced the intimidation from Trump-Vance better by buying time for translator. “No Japanese leader would have put himself in that situation as at the very minimum they would have used simultaneous translation to buy just a bit of time between comments, which tends to slow things down and gives you a few seconds to think before speaking back,” Naito wrote in comments on LinkedIn.
Yet, the Japanese commentator also stated that being “one vs. two is harder still”. Zelenskyy was alone facing Trump and Vance blasting him off with barrage of innuendos.
“This is not the kind of reception that hosts should give to guests, whoever they are. I feel ashamed for the host. Neither Trump nor Zelenskyy should have allowed this to happen. Is this 21st century diplomacy or a bazaar,” asked former Kyrgyz Republic Prime Minister Djoomart Otorbaev?
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