If in politics there are times when a year feels as long as a geological era, in Donald Trump’s White House twelve months are simultaneously an eternity, a sigh, and above all an adventure. Here alliances, sympathies, and priorities change at a speed that defies any diplomacy manual, since the president, like the nineteenth-century United Kingdom, has only his own interests as permanent.
Few days summarize the current geopolitical rollercoaster better than this Tuesday, when at the White House Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, crossed paths. Both came to Washington for the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham, a mutual friend and one of the last representatives of the world of yesterday, and met with Trump, an indispensable partner.
The capital dedicated to the veteran legislator a farewell almost like that of a head of state, with a spectacular ceremony in the Capitol rotunda, with his colleagues lined up paying tribute to one of the great veterans of Congress and Vice President JD Vance dedicating a few words. Before his transfer to the Cathedral, where his family and President Trump spoke, who joked about his ally’s bellicosity: “There was never a war he didn’t like, he was a great hawk,” he said.
The meetings, succinctly defined by Trump’s press chief as “positive and productive,” revealed several things unthinkable in 2025. To begin with, the meetings were private, without cameras. The newly returned Trump was permanently live and orchestrated all his visits before the media. An unpredictable and chaotic spectacle to disarm guests, which sometimes worked well, sometimes ended badly, as the Ukrainian well remembers. Not anymore. For political, health, or caution reasons, most meetings with world leaders are now held as elsewhere on the planet, in private. And that is a notable change.
But the most striking was not in the form, but in the substance. The tables have completely turned. If last year Zelensky was little more than an outcast, someone Trump and his team criticized publicly and privately, who they complained only wanted money, who they reproached for his way of dressing and language while literally cutting aid to his country to pressure him, now even the most radical MAGA influencers are beginning to change their opinion and define him as a “hero” or the “Lincoln of this generation.”
The opposite with Netanyahu. On his eighth visit to the White House since Trump’s electoral victory, the Israeli prime minister arrived weaker and more questioned than ever, including in electoral polls in his country. The first meetings between the two, old friends, were always a display of that special relationship between nationals. The attacks on Iranian nuclear infrastructure last summer even strengthened the bond. But the war in Gaza, operations in Qatar, and bombings in Lebanon have exhausted Trump’s patience, who has reprimanded and criticized Netanyahu aloud these months. His messages, increasingly harsh, directly or through interviews, reflected weariness and helplessness. Just yesterday, referring to the Israeli lobby to deteriorate relations between the US and Turkey, Trump again called his friend to order, urging him not to meddle where he is not called.
Exactly one year ago Zelensky was going through the most delicate moment since the start of the Russian invasion. Republican support for Ukraine was eroding, Trump openly questioned the volume of military aid, and the now-famous meeting in the Oval Office ended up becoming an unprecedented grotesque spectacle. Ukraine had ceased to be the consensus cause in Washington since the invasion to become another battlefield.
Zelensky arrived today, however, in a noticeably stronger position and that was seen in the few images that have emerged, with a relaxed face and broad smiles. Not because the war has improved for Ukraine, which partly yes thanks to an unparalleled mastery of drones that even allows it to attack Russia on its territory. But because Trump himself has hardened his rhetoric towards Moscow or at least is no longer enthusiastic and praising. The US president’s frustration with the lack of progress, growing doubts about the Kremlin’s real willingness to negotiate, and the perception that Putin is using talks to buy time while helping Iran attack the US and its allies, have introduced a significant shift in the White House. Without abandoning his aspiration to end the conflict, Trump today appears much more skeptical about Russia than he was a year ago.
“A good meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office. Thanks for everything we do together to protect the lives of Ukrainians and advance peace. Above all, I offered the president our condolences for the passing of Lindsey Graham, a true friend of Ukraine. The president and I discussed licenses for the production of Patriot interceptors and several other ideas that could help. We also talked about diplomacy, because it is important that the diplomatic process is revitalized. Our teams will arrange the details of their subsequent communication. I am grateful to the United States for its firm support,” said the Ukrainian briefly in a social media message at the end of the meeting.
Last weekend’s Ukrainian attack on an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea has given Zelensky many extra points, who in this visit emphasized the links between the wars both countries are fighting to get closer to Trump. After helping Gulf countries defend against drones, Ukraine attacked the ship claiming it was transporting military equipment from Iran to Russia. Just as it provided evidence of how Moscow uses its satellites to identify targets for Tehran. However, this has not been enough to improve his relationship with Netanyahu himself. Both exchanged tense words in the Cathedral hallways, evidencing that the disagreements of the last four years have not disappeared.
But the transformation of these months is even more striking in the case of Netanyahu, whom some in the White House are beginning to see as a lost cause if he does not manage to stay in power and with the legal problems ahead of him. The personal relationship with Trump still exists, obviously, but the political bond has ceased to be immune to problems. It does not mean that Washington has stopped being Israel’s main ally, on the contrary, but it does reveal a change in perception while American public opinion is also shifting. Trump always uses the analogy of having good cards and now they have changed, even though the Ukrainian is going through the most serious internal crisis since 2022, with dismissals and appointments that have caused massive protests and accusations about his authoritarian management.
The White House continues to evaluate international relations from a deeply transactional logic, where support is never a blank check and where even the closest allies can become objects of mockery or threats if it considers they do not serve US interests. Iran has become a problem it does not quite know how to solve, and demands cooperation from Israel, not more obstacles.
“I don’t need Bibi to tell me. Bibi tells me because he wants me to stay involved,” the president said this morning in a television interview about possible evidence the Israeli government wants to present about Iranian nuclear activities. “We destroyed their nuclear facilities, and we will have to destroy Pickaxe if we don’t reach an agreement,” Trump continued about the mountain where secret facilities are suspected in Iran.
A statement released by the Israeli prime minister’s office limited itself to saying it was “an excellent and thorough conversation about the key issues of the moment, mainly Iran,” and that “they reaffirmed their firm commitment to ensuring that Iran never possesses nuclear weapons.” In line with messages from several ministers who in recent hours have publicly lamented that Washington does not want to destroy Iran’s energy facilities.
Zelensky, who was at the White House for just over an hour, then met with Finnish president, Alex Stubb (who has forged an unexpected bond with Trump thanks to golf) and headed to the National Cathedral for the memorial event for the senator. And in the afternoon he will meet with a group of senators from both parties who support the Lindsey O. Graham Russia and Iran Sanctions Act. Richard Blumenthal (Democrat from Connecticut), Katie Britt (Republican from Alabama), Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat from New Hampshire), Roger Wicker (Republican from Mississippi) and Jim Risch (Republican from Idaho), along with other members of the House.