It started with a bang. A cameraman collided with a large mirror on the wall opposite Donald Trump in the White House Cabinet Room, and he noticed immediately.

“Ooh, you got to watch that,” Trump cautioned. “You’re not allowed to break that, that mirror’s 400 years old.”

US President Donald Trump was completely in his element during the question-and-answer session with journalists.Credit: AP

Then, for those who weren’t aware what had happened, Trump explained: “A camera just hit the mirror. Aye aye aye. I just moved it up here special from the vaults, and first thing that happens, a camera hits it.”

Trump is a creature of television, and a natural. Just before the meeting started, he was checking with the cameras to make sure they were in the correct position, like a Hollywood director might arrange a film shoot.

This is a man for whom visuals, and image, are next to godliness. And Anthony Albanese was sure to commend Trump on his taste, thanking the president for a tour of the “improved Oval Office”, which is now decked out in gold bling.

The travelling Australian press pack had been expecting, and eagerly awaiting, a face-to-face encounter in the Oval Office. So there was a streak of disappointment when, instead, we filed into the Cabinet........

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