PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has had a busy week. In addition to speaking at a funeral service for his foe-turned-friend, the late Senator Lindsey Graham, he met both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

While paying homage to Graham, who died suddenly, Trump managed to say that “virtually everyone, Republican or Democrat, liked Lindsey”. Perhaps startled by such uncharacteristic generosity of spirit, he corrected himself: “Not everybody. But it sounds good.”

Zelenskyy and Netanyahu each arrived at the White House with a wish. The former, whose relationship with the commander-in-chief of the United States armed forces evidently has improved since their infamous blow-up in March of 2025, wants more assistance to defend his people from Russian air assaults.

The latter, who reportedly had been asking for a face-to-face for some time, hoped to affirm the unprecedentedly strained US-Israel bond and, allegedly, to persuade President Trump both that the job is nowhere near done in his region and that he warranted support as his nation prepares to vote in October.

Trump and co at the funeral in Washington, United States. 28 July, 2026. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Two things are worth noting in the aftermath of the two bilateral confabs. First, President Trump has demonstrated a penchant for conducting diplomacy with the cameras and microphones in the room. These get-togethers were strictly behind closed doors. It is hard to know what to make of that departure from past practice.

Second, all we have heard from the Trump administration is that the meetings were “positive and productive” and........

© TheJournal