Hello and welcome to Battleground with me Saul David and Patrick Bishop.

Well Patrick, this Trump seesaw has seemingly tipped once again, a mere three days after giving the warmest welcome imaginable to Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, causing dismay to Ukraine and its allies.

Trump has shifted his position once more in a remarkable display of diplomatic unity at the White House.

There were many fine words and statements from all

participants that real progress had been made, but had it. More smoke and mirrors or a real

step towards peace? Which is it, do you think, Patrick? Well, I mean, the first thing I was struck

by, as I think most people were, was the mood in the room when Trump was presiding over that gathering,

sitting at the head of the table, surrounded by European leaders, by the head of NATO, by the

head of the EU. And it's not difficult to sort of see it as a kind of 21st century reflection of a kind of Roman imperial court, where

the first thing on everyone's mind is they've got to keep the boss sweet. So it seemed to be as

much as an exercise in mood management as it was in actually getting some diplomatic work done.

You could see that in everyone's words and in their

gestures, they were all terrified that by something they said or something they appeared to do,

they might incur Emperor Donald's displeasure. So I think that was what really mostly struck me.

But having said all that, at least, you know, you've got to accentuate the positive.

There was no great fallout.

Trump and the Europeans appeared to be marching in lockstep.

But of course, like all these things, as soon as you actually take a closer look at it,

you say, what was actually achieved?

I'll go into this in some detail now.

But the first thing is just the way that Trump uses word. So he says, I am organizing a meeting

between Zelensky and Putin. Arrangements are being made. But there's no actual proof that

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