Two December days in Palm Beach and I have sunburn and whiplash.
The sunburn is my fault. But Donald Trump is to blame for the whiplash, such is his style of diplomacy. He’d have it no other way. He’s busy making things happen. That’s how he frames it.
But let’s take stock because there has been a lot to process. What’s actually been achieved over these past two days, how much was just theatrical hot air, and what surprises were there?
Let’s begin with the Middle East and the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“An outstanding meeting.” That’s how Netanyahu’s spokesman described the day to me as it all wrapped up.
You can see why he might think this. Netanyahu got what he came for.
There’s a lot to process just there.
Trump saying he remains locked and loaded on Iran. Trump threatening “all hell” on Hamas. How will all this play out in 2026? If he follows through (big if), how will his base react domestically? There’s so much to consider.
There were some intriguing divergences between Netanyahu and Trump, one on Syria and the other on the West Bank.
On Syria, Trump said he wanted to thaw relations between the new Syrian president and Israel. Good luck to him if he can. It would be an achievement and welcome.
On the West Bank, Trump suggested he was worried about settler violence and expansion. It’s a huge issue, it threatens Trump’s vision for the region. Again – if he can stop the violence and expansion, that would be an achievement.
I’m not holding my breath.
But, as ever, there was more too; the stuff we didn’t expect from the two free-flowing impromptu news conferences at which the American president did almost all the talking.
He was asked about an attack on Venezuela which, casually and vaguely, he’d dropped into an earlier interview.
He confirmed that, yes, he’d ordered an attack on a “big facility” in Venezuela. That’s big news – the first American land attack. Yet it was just another moment in this second day of Mar-a-Lago diplomacy.
Then there was his response to what appears to be a massive Chinese military dress rehearsal for a blockade of Taiwan.
Was Trump worried? No, he said. “Nothing worries me.”
Just chill? Or doesn’t really care? It’s hard to know sometimes.
A day earlier, it had been Ukraine’s president at Mar-a-Lago.
Is it ironic or just mad that Volodymyr Zelenskyy was coming from his city of actual palaces, including his own presidential palace, to a Disneyland town called Palm Beach and the faux-palace of a former real estate tycoon to beg for support for his country’s future.
It seemed to go well though.
Ukrainian officials told me they were very pleased with the commitment Trump gave on security guarantees. They glossed over the wholly important issue of how long those guarantees last or whether they can trust Trump’s word. What choice do they have?
Of course, there was more. President Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin twice – before and after the Zelenskyy meeting. And it was what he said after the second call that piqued interest.
He announced that Putin had told him Ukraine had attacked one of his homes with a swarm of drones.
Zelenskyy had already called the claim out as lies. The suggestion from Kyiv is that if it happened it was a false flag to try to derail the peace process because Putin doesn’t want peace.
But Trump’s tone suggested he was taking Putin’s word for it. Remember, in his first term, Trump took Putin’s word over that of his own intelligence agencies.
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And so, a head-spinning two days of news; a fitting way to end the year.
2026 is an election year for Donald Trump. The midterms are in November. He needs to focus on the “home front”, as his vice-president subtly reminded him a couple of months ago. The economy and the cost of living, not foreign conflicts.
Trump knows that. But so to do America’s adversaries and its troublesome allies. What will they gamble on in 2026 knowing that he may not care, or may just go along with it.
Buckle up.
