The Triumph of Imposture: Donald Trump and the Diplomacy of Chaos

16 janvier 2026 Éditoriaux

There are images that, by their sheer indecency, summarize the tragedy of an era. The sight of Donald Trump posing proudly in front of a Nobel Peace Prize awarded to a Venezuelan activist is one of them.

Donald Trump & Mme Machado © White House Photo / Daniel Torok
Legendary modesty bordering on pathology — White House Photo / Daniel Torok

The smile is that of a wolf playing with a lamb before devouring it; the gaze is one of bottomless vanity. Just days earlier, with that legendary « modesty » of his that borders on pathology, he claimed to the world’s cameras that he was the only human being alive deserving of the award. For Trump, reality is merely an option, and decency is a shackle.

by François de Vries — Brussels, january 16, 2026

This grotesque tableau is not an accident; it is a method

Trump doesn’t do nuance; he does bulldozer. Politeness, diplomatic codes, human rights, and virtue are concepts foreign to his mental operating system. His only gospel is cash. In the Trumpian universe, Cash is King and he mistakes himself for God, amidst the fanatical cheers of a hypnotized MAGA base.

The Smokescreen Strategy

The mechanics are now well-oiled: a new absurdity every day to wipe away the memory of yesterday’s. This hyperactivity in stupidity is not random; it is a survival strategy.

Donald Trump et son Nobel — Illustration © European-Security

The goal?

To saturate the media space so that neither Congress nor the press digs too deep into the shadows—specifically, that decade spent in the dubious intimacy of a certain Jeffrey Epstein.

His days, far from the gravity required by the presidency, are an indigestible mix of fast food and reality TV. Between two burgers and a gulp of soda, he slaps his inimitable signature on destructive executive orders before jetting off, on the taxpayer’s dime, for endless rounds of golf in Florida. The « Trump Circus » costs the National Security budget dearly.

Illustration © European-Security

His obsession? Branding. Like a beast marking its territory, Trump must stamp his name everywhere, turning American diplomacy into a vulgar extension of his gilded towers.

He occupies center stage with the vanity of a decadent blowhard, gasping out arguments whispered by « reliable sources » that are often just echoes of his own fantasies—or worse, those of Vladimir Putin, the role model he so desperately dreams of imitating.

Geopolitics of the Schoolyard

Yet, reality sometimes slaps the histrionic actor in the face. Denmark and Greenland offered a lesson in dignity by reminding him that sovereign territory is neither for sale nor up for invasion. They dared to tell him « no. » A shock for the man whom lucid Americans have long considered an uneducated buffoon.

Les services américains, russes et chinois surveillent les manoeuvres européennes © European-Security
American, Russian, and Chinese services are monitoring European maneuvers — Illustration © European-Security

On the Iran file, the mask slipped. He promised the apocalypse, claiming readiness to intervene militarily. But behind the chest-thumping, the priority was never saving lives—that is the least of his worries—but securing oil. The world hung by a thread, awaiting war, until the crocodile transformed into an eel. Why? Because Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and especially his « friend » Vladimir whispered that war would be bad for business. Immediately, the Twitter warrior fell back in line.

The Useful Idiot of the Sino-Russian Axis

But the true drama of the Trump era goes beyond behavioral antics. It lies in his catastrophic geopolitical record. Trump points to China as the enemy, but who is the real saboteur of America if not Donald J. Trump himself?

Trump, marionnette de Poutine et de Xi — Illustration © Euroipean-Security
When will Congress find the courage blow the whistle and end playtime? — Illustration © European-Security

In four years, through incompetence and a total lack of strategic vision, he achieved the unthinkable: throwing Russia into China’s arms.[01]

As historian Françoise Thom rightly points out, Putin, cornered by incoherent American policy, sold Russia’s future to Beijing to ensure his immediate political survival. Trump transformed a geopolitical rival into a docile vassal of the systemic enemy, creating from scratch the monolithic Eurasian bloc that Anglo-Saxon strategists have dreaded for a century.

His peace plans were never anything more than « sucker traps, » as military types say.

The Reckoning

However, the « Teflon Don’s » immunity is cracking. Overdose is looming. It now appears that 75% of Americans think he is « doing too much, » that he saturates the space and the mind, that enough is enough. The people are exhausted by this permanent narcissistic chaos.

L'ours polaire arrêté par la DEA — Illustration © European-Security
Illustration © European-Security

Faced with this moral and strategic failure, a burning question remains for the guardians of our institutions: when will Congress finally find the courage to blow the whistle and end playtime?

François de Vries

[01] Bruegel, « Germany’s China dependence: Repeating the Russian gas mistake? »

See also:

Decrytion: The Master Outdone by the Apprentice

Ultimately, if we look through a window into the future, the view is chilling. In less than a year, Donald Trump’s only real « success » has been beating Vladimir Putin at his own game. The master of the Kremlin, once the undisputed champion of thug tactics, has had the spotlight stolen by his apprentice in the White House. We are no longer witnessing geopolitics, but a sinister competition in brutality where the American president no longer seeks to lead the free world, but to outdo autocrats in the art of blackmail, contempt, and lies. In this duel of egos for the title of planetary « Godfather, » Trump has proven he can go further than his role model, leaving democracy behind as mere collateral damage.