TEHRAN – When Donald Trump and his newly emboldened vice president, J.D. Vance, stood in the White House and delivered their condescending remarks as those broadcasted across the globe, many saw Trump attempting to cast himself as a figure of moral authority, perhaps in the mold of Martin Luther King Jr. or Mother Teresa, where he spoke as if he were a man deeply concerned with global peace, even going so far as to blame Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the tragic deaths of innocent people in Ukraine’s war with Vladimir Putin.

In this context, Zelenskyy has consistently been relegated to the role of a pawn—much like a rabbit ensnared in the ongoing conflict between East and West. His desperate bid to join NATO or the European Union only ensured that his country would be pulled into one side’s grip, oblivious to the reality that these superpowers were never fighting for him, only fighting over him. Their concern was not for Ukraine’s survival, but for the biggest piece of it they could take.  

Thus, in this recent display at the White House, Zelenskyy found himself assuming an unexpected role—not as the valiant champion of the West, but as a clown, gradually coming to the realization that he was fated to fail, regardless of the side he chose to support.

In the decades to come, when future generations reflect on this period, they will undoubtedly express disbelief. They will read about an American president who, in the same breath, dreamed of taking over Canada, Greenland, the Panama Canal, and Gaza. A man who, like his predecessors, claimed to be a fair mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—while binding one side’s hands and arming the other with two-ton bombs to slaughter tens of thousands. A man who strutted like Mussolini while insisting he was a peacemaker, audacious enough to think he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.  

Our descendants will likely feel a sense of pity for us, having endured such figures. However, they will find solace in the knowledge that the era of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has concluded. For history has shown us that even the most egregious figures eventually fade into obscurity.