In their 2016 presidential debate, Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump of being Vladimir Putin's “puppet.” In 2020, at the height of the COVID pandemic, Joe Biden's campaign spokesman, TJ Ducklo, accused Trump of having been “duped” by Xi Jinping. Now, six weeks into Trump's second term, the two anti-Western dictators are presenting new challenges to his foreign policy vision.

He sees a successful peacemaker role as paving the way for his coveted Nobel Peace Prize — and even, he fantasizes, a place on Mount Rushmore. But based on the results so far, Trump’s prospects for favorable world recognition are not looking promising.

No one took seriously his grandiose claim that he could end the Ukraine war “in 24 hours” unless it meant immediately cutting off all support for Ukraine’s defense and forcing it into an abject surrender. But during and since his shameful meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky last month, it seemed that was precisely his intention.

Vice President JD Vance, playing the role of bully-in-training, started the attack,

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