Washington might be closed, but Trump’s brand of governance remains gloriously open for business
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky sat down with President Donald J. Trump in the Cabinet Room this past week for what had been billed as a “working lunch.” Both men came hungry — Trump for credit and Zelensky for Tomahawk missiles, though only one would leave satisfied.
The night before, Zelensky had checked into Blair House, the White House’s official guest residence. Meanwhile, security was tighter than a Mar-a-Lago nondisclosure agreement, with entire streets sealed off.
It was Zelensky ’s first time staying there during the Trump era, a detail that fueled speculation that the accommodation upgrade might come with a softer tone than their more combustible encounters earlier this year. Optimism would prove premature.
The latest Trump-Zelensky summit was less “meeting of the minds” and more “collision of the narratives.” On one side of the Cabinet Room table sat a wartime president begging for Tomahawks. On the other sat Trump, a man who’s never met a weapon system that he couldn’t turn into a metaphor for himself.
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