The complaint over the “disrespectful” dressing of Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, to the Oval Office last week was an irrelevant but sensational aside to the clash between the visitor and his hosts, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other US officials.

Trump had remarked: “You are all dressed up today” while welcoming Zelensky at the door. For some reasons, Zelensky’s dressing also caught the attention of the Correspondent of Real America’s Voice, Brian Glenn, who asked:

“Why don’t you wear a suit? You are at the highest level in this country’s office, and you refuse to wear a suit”.

Zelensky was wearing his usual Ukrainian military cardigan with its trident badge, which he has worn since the war started in February 2022. He adopted that attire in solidarity with his troops fighting the invading Russians in the open Steppes battlefields. That should not have counted as a sign of disrespect for America, especially given the circumstances.

Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, recently visited President Trump in the Oval Office proudly donning his bandh gala Indian suit. Nobody complained. When the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, visits the Oval Office as expected, he will be dressed in his official Saudi attire, the thawb, not suit. Even former President Muhammadu Buhari, visited his sponsor, former President Barack Obama, in the Oval Office in July 2015, wearing his Fulanised Sahel kaftan.

Zelensky’s attire was made an issue within the avoidable chaos that developed between him and his hosts. Zelensky did not handle himself with the delicacy that the visit required. He came like a fired-up warlord determined to drive home his mission to get the Trump administration to give him the arms and funds he needed to continue his defence of Ukraine against Russian President, Vladimir Putin’s aggression.

After three years of resisting the Russians with endless supply of American funds and weapons, Zelensky has lost touch with the need to apply the delicacy of diplomacy which was needed in this meeting. His brusque tone, supercilious body language and bullish sense of entitlement finally got to his hosts, who all but booted him out of the White House.

Zelensky should have borrowed a leaf from the manner in which Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had handled the administration of Joe Biden after the October 7, 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel and brutal massacre of 1,400 unarmed civilians. Israel, a traditional ally of the USA, depends on the support of America (funds, arms supply) to keep their enemies subdued. Despite Biden’s decision to withhold arms and funds to slow Israel down and give his party a chance to win the November 5, 2024 general elections, Netanyahu remained calm in his dealings with America without losing his boldness and the dignity of his country. We all knew he preferred Trump to win, but he never directly meddled in the campaigns because he knew the election could go either way.

Zelensky was not as wise. VP Vance accused him of “campaigning for” the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, in Pennsylvania. Even if this was an exaggeration, Zelensky openly hobnobbed with Democratic party leaders during the campaigns. This was election meddling. The Trump campaign noticed this partisanship and also developed a hostile attitude towards the Ukrainian leader.

Beyond these sentimental clashes, the main bone of contention between Trump and Zelensky was the definition of a “deal”. In this, they remain miles apart. For Zelensky, a deal means more funds and weapons to sustain his resistance of Russia. Zelensky believes that Putin will never respect any deal not backed by threats of superior force. He points to the many deals that Putin violated, forgetting that he himself had done the same, especially against the Russian Donbas region before Putin invaded.

Zelensky’s overconfidence was buoyed by the growing support from European leaders, particularly those of Germany, UK and France, who have volunteered billions of dollars and promised to deploy soldiers when necessary. Europe’s support for Ukraine is not a Father Christmas gesture. If Russia crushes Ukraine, no country in Europe will feel safe from them. The preparations that European countries are making to strengthen their defences very closely resemble the makings of an all-out war with Russia, which will become World War III.

Trump, on the other hand, is modelling himself as an evangelist for peace. He wants Ukraine – and by extension Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO – to sit down with him and Russia and broker a win-win deal for everyone. He knows Ukraine cannot defeat Russia. If anything, Ukraine’s defeat by Russia is only a matter of time. But if Russia is allowed to crush Ukraine, it will trigger the Hitler alarm bells throughout Europe and beyond, and set the stage for World War III. The only path to true victory is negotiation and an all-inclusive deal.

For Trump, now is the time to stop the Russia-Ukraine war and preclude World War III. Allow Russia keep the Donbas and Crimea, but move no further. Keep NATO permanently out of Ukraine. NATO had triggered the Russian invasion by violating its undertaking not to expand into the former Soviet enclaves. Ukraine must terminate its NATO ambition since the USA will not tolerate Russia or China’s military presence anywhere around it. If a fair deal is ratified, Russia can be held to account.

Trump is also eyeing something else. As the ultimate American patriot and quintessential dealmaker, Trump wants something for the USA out of this deal. America has spent a whopping $350bn on the Ukraine war. Trump is seriously pained that such a sum will be spent with nothing for America in return. He wants a slice of Ukraine’s abundant rare-earth minerals.

The Trump option will end the war and prevent World War III. Anything else is a gamble with WWIII.