As an American, watching the so-called press conference after the Alaska summit between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and the American President Donald Trump regarding ending the war in Ukraine was a complete embarrassment. It was a so-called press conference since there were no questions allowed; instead it was sort of a double monologues with a long happy speech by Putin and a very brief sour statement by Trump.

            Trump had raised high expectations. Though he was unable to end the war in Ukraine “on day one,” as he frequently promised during his presidential campaign, maybe now he could achieve something. Maybe at least a cease fire. And with it, the possibility of receiving a Nobel Peace Prize. It was the one achievement of Barack Obama that has thus far eluded Trump. He desperately wants it.

             The physical setting at a US air base near Anchorage had all the right graphics. The logo, Pursuing Peace, was on the backdrop of the stage where the post-summit speeches were held. Putin had been treated royally by Trump. A literal red-carpet had been rolled out to greet him when he arrived. Then Putin joined Trump in the presidential limousine for a drive to the meetings.

            This was quite a welcome for someone who is declared a war criminal by the International Criminal Court and would be arrested in Europe by any nation that is a party to the ICC agreement, which conveniently the US has not signed. But in Trump’s eyes, Putin was Putin, the larger-than-life figure that he has long admired. He was hoping to woo him by nice words and glamorous settings, precisely the kind of things that attract Trump himself.

            For many hours they talked. And they talked. And talked. At the end, Putin gave a syrupy announcement saying how much he yearned for peace, and how wonderful Trump was, and the only minor thing to assure a solution was to remove those matters that had created the conflict in the first place.

            Huh? The conflict was created by Putin invading Ukraine and trying to absorb it into Russia, everyone knows that. The simple solution is for Russia to stop trying to do that. Putin could call an end to the so-far unsuccessful attempt at accession and withdraw what is left of his badly damaged army.

            But that, alas, is not how Putin sees the situation. He has claimed repeatedly that Ukraine is a fiction. The country is not really a country but a region of Russia. So in Putin’s mind, to remove the conditions that caused Russia to invade in the first place would be for Ukraine and its allies, including the US, to acknowledge Russia’s ownership of the country. They should simply back away and let Putin win.

            So much for diplomacy. Putin essentially said the same thing that he has said from the beginning of the conflict. No change. No compromise. No cease fire.

            He made a fool out of Trump.

            Trump’s brief remarks after Putin’s long triumphant oration was basically to say that the deal isn’t done. Clearly it never would be, from Puttin’s point of view. And then Trump said it was now up to Zelensky to solve the matter, as if the country that was invaded could somehow persuade the invading country to back off. The only way it could do that is with a massive show of force, which is what the US has been trying to do before the reign of Donald Trump.

            What will happen now? Will this exercise in public humiliation have an effect on Trump and cause him to change course?

            Trump is terribly thin-skinned and hates to be made a fool. This is one of the reasons why he despises Obama, since Barack made jokes at his expense at a Washington Press Corps dinner many years ago. Trump has still not forgotten it.

             If Trump gets it—if he realizes he’s been made a fool, and is sufficiently angered, maybe he’ll change course. Maybe he’ll begin to support Ukraine more strongly militarily, and work with European allies to put pressure on Russia. He could raise the sanctions and try to put an economic stranglehold on Russia.

            Maybe. If he realizes he’s been made a fool.

            The initial appearance on Fox News was the opposite. Trump tried to turn defeat into victory, the way he often does. He declared that the summit achieved all of his objectives, 10 out of 10.

            We’ll see. Maybe he’ll wake up the next day and read the headlines in the New York Times and realize he’s been had. Big time. And then he might want to lash back at Putin.

            In that case, curiously, the summit might indeed turn out to be something of a success.