You Can Trust a Historian
Hastings, Beevor, Ambrose, Irving - the historians we know best, just how might THEY have recorded the Oval Office exchange for posterity?!
Geopolitics, huh. When, eventually, our esteemed historians do set down how the VanTrumpEnsky clash happened, their individual styles will no doubt move us from delight to despair. Books in the making. And as it happens I have found the blurbs. Remember folks, other historians are available . . .
Herodotus (The Father of History)
“The Persians exceeded in numbers, yet the Greeks stood firm against Darius’ might.” Now these things are said concerning the Oval Office: on the 28th day of February, 2025, Zelensky of the Ukrainians, alone like unto a Greek before the host, came before Trump and Vance, who were as Persians in their might and number. And lo, there was much shouting! Trump, a very Zeus with thunderous voice, called him ungrateful, one who gambles with war’s dread fate; Vance too, like Ares in lesser raiment, bade him give thanks for the shield of America. But Zelensky, proud as Achilles son of Peleus, told of Putin’s wiles, ceasefires broken, a land laid waste - yet these lords heeded not. It is said among men that Trump cast him out, crying “Peace or be gone!” and Zelensky departed, unbowed, spear against a host. This tale I, Herodotus, set down, of hubris and strife, to be wondered at by generations, unless some god or oracle prove it false, which I reckon not.
A.J.P. Taylor (The Blunt Contrarian)
“The Second World War was the inevitable result of twenty years of Anglo-French blundering.” Everyone blames America for the Oval Office row of ’25, but that’s lazy - Macron’s cosy February 26 chat with Trump proves Europe’s happy to dodge the mess.
No, this was Zelensky’s doing, a puffed-up dreamer who misjudged his hand. Trump raged about World War III, true, and Vance carped for thanks - fair, since Zelensky’s earlier nod drowned in his own noise.
The Ukrainian fancied himself a historian, prattling Putin’s sins, but he’d misread the room like Chamberlain misread Hitler. America didn’t blunder; it reacted to Kyiv’s endless begging. Trump’s “peace” isn’t tyranny - it’s sense, and Vance’s isolationism a rare sane note.
Zelensky flounced out, deal sunk, because he overreached, not because the West wobbled. The real farce? Not Trump’s bellows, but Ukraine’s gamble, egged on by dupes. History’s not mocking America here - it’s sneering at Zelensky’s delusions, with Macron smirking from the wings.
Max Hastings (The Historian / Journalist)
“The British people showed courage, but their leaders too often failed them.” As Scholz and others hailed Zelensky on social platforms and damned Trump’s crassness, Britain’s courage stood firm yet leadership faltered when Sir Keir Starmer, after his March 1 talk with Trump, kept silent.
On February 28, 2025, busts in the Oval Office bore witness to a grim farce. Winston Churchill, that towering personality of the forces of light, watched helpless as Trump and Vance, graceless as playground toughs, bullied the worn-out Zelensky. Cameras caught Trump’s bellows of ingratitude - a rich jest from one untouched by the mud of war, blind too to its fog, where truth and peril blur - while Vance smirked, demanding thanks for America’s bounty.
Zelensky, resolute, spoke of Putin’s brutality, his words lost in their clamour. No parley this, but a shameful betrayal of duty, deepened by Starmer’s mute stance as other leaders rallied. Trump’s peace stinks of Munich; Vance’s taunts dodge the trenches he’ll never know. Deal unsigned, Zelensky left - a low ebb for American honour. History will scorn this desertion of a brave ally, not least because Starmer, nurturing the ragged threads of a transatlantic tie, left the moral field to braver voices.
Antony Beevor (The Meticulous Chronicler)
“The fate of the Sixth Army was decided not by Hitler’s orders, but by the soldiers’ exhaustion.” So too, the Oval Office clash on February 28, 2025, turned not on Trump’s roar but Zelensky’s frayed endurance. At 11:00 a.m., he entered, gaunt, facing Trump and Vance. By 11:38, Trump’s voice split the air, accusing him of sparking World War III; Vance, at 11:40, leaned close, decrying ungrateful pleas, though Zelensky’s thanks had sounded at 11:04. At 11:47, he cited Putin’s 25 ceasefire ruptures - clearcut - until Trump cut in at 11:49: “No cards left!” Silence choked the room; by 1:40 p.m., Zelensky shuffled out, minerals deal lost, after Trump’s 2:15 p.m. Truth Social salvo: “Peace or bust.” The ambassador’s head bowed at 11:52, fatigue carved in her face. Every tick of the clock marked a Ukrainian’s will eroding under American wrath - less policy, more a soldier’s collapse, charted with stark exactitude.
David Irving (The Controversial - and I’m being generous there - Denier)
“Hitler wanted peace, but Churchill’s war machine forced his hand.” See now Churchill’s bust, a brass warlord, scowling over the Oval Office on February 28, 2025, its cigar-stubbed glare urging Trump and Vance on as they smashed Zelensky, stooge of the internationalists. Winnie’s spirit blessed the day - the row called wrongly ‘disrespect’ by lying scribes.
Vance sliced through the hypocrite’s tales - propaganda jaunts, ha! Trump, a genius unbowed, saw Zelensky’s racket: draining America while spitting on her gifts, all under Churchill’s bronze nod.
Zelensky bleated, where’s the evidence of these ‘ceasefire breaks’? And Vance did not falter: lies to bleed the West, and Churchill’s sad eyes agreed. Trump’s World War III jab hit true - Zelensky’s the hawk, not Russia, rightful in her realm. Minerals deal? A con, justly spiked. My transcripts - shunned by the elite - prove it: Trump and Vance, patriots pure. Zelensky ran, cowed by real men. History’s warped by winners, but here’s fact - trust me, I’ve the papers!
Stephen Ambrose (The Patriotic Storyteller)
“The American soldier was democracy’s greatest weapon.” It was February 28, 2025, and the Oval Office hummed with America’s soul - Trump, large as a lion, and Vance, steady as a rock, staring down Zelensky. They’d handed him Javelins, cash - America’s best - but the thought of GIs slogging through the trenches of Kyiv and Kursk gnawed at them.
Trump hollered like Patton, “You’re gambling with World War III!” - he saw boys coming home in flags. Vance, calm as Ike, wanted thanks for the kids in Ohio picking up the tab, dreading a call-up. Zelensky, tough as any grunt, hit back with Putin’s sins, but they pictured Peoria’s sons dying for it.
Tempers flared - by 1:40 p.m., Zelensky split, deal kaput, and Trump hit Truth Social with a peace cry, keeping our boys safe. This was no tiff - it was the heartland’s fight, freedom costing dear.
God love ’em both, standing tall for the red, white, and blue!
. . . but that’s enough of that. Here’s a map.
In the US Library of Congress, there’s a series of maps dated 1851, 1857 and 1870 that show the evolution of the buildings, roadways, paths and design of the area known first as the ‘parade’, later as the ‘Ellipse’. Over time, the buildings on either side of the White House grew in size while the circular parade became an oval ellipse. This is from 1851. I’m rather taken with it - it’s rustic at best - but that’s because the draughtsman’s initials were MJW.
Very good Merryn. You have a keen ear.