It all began with such promise. Donald Trump would sweep away all the failures of past administrations, sit astride the globe like a Nobel Prize winner in the making and solve the world’s seemingly unresolvable security challenges.

To be fair, it has only been eight months since he began his second term in the White House. But it is a fact that Trump has struggled to bring the force of his personality and chutzpah to bear in trying to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, as he pledged he would in short shrift during his presidential campaign.

His return to the White House was supposed to be the start of a Trump era on the world stage, a period in which dramatic diplomatic breakthroughs would cement his legacy as a peacemaker. America’s adversaries would be forced to make deals or suffer the consequences.

Putin is now testing Trump and Nato to the limit

Increasingly, however, it is becoming a Putin era. The Russian leader faced world condemnation for his invasion of Ukraine, and yet three years and seven months later, he and the war economy he has built despite international sanctions have not just survived but flourished. Putin, not Trump, has turned out to be the master playmaker and game changer. 

As Trump and First Lady Melania arrive in the UK for an unprecedented second state visit, the president has little to boast........

© The Spectator