SCENE / POLITICS
THE DEALMAKER FILES 01
The talk.
The deals.
The reversals.
Trump’s pitch was always simple: make the call, make the deal, end the war. Then the other leaders got their turn.
A SCENE POST — 2026Ukraine in a day. “Rocket Man.” “Fire and fury.” Trump’s political show has always had the same promise: he gets in the room, makes the call, and the other leader blinks first.
With Kim Jong Un, the threats turned into a historic summit. The nuclear breakthrough never came. That doesn’t prove Kim played him. It does show the gap between a dramatic moment and a result that lasts.
Netanyahu got the war he wanted.
Netanyahu had been making the case for military action against Iran for years. He spoke to Trump shortly before the joint operation began, and Trump signed off on it — despite having campaigned against getting America pulled into another major war.
You don’t have to believe Netanyahu controls Trump to see who helped set the agenda. Trump made the decision. Netanyahu got the outcome he had spent years arguing for.
Trump said he could end the war quickly. The war carried on. Putin got a new deal.
THE PROMISE / THE RESULT
And then there’s Putin.
Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine quickly. There were calls, envoys and talk of summits. The war carried on. Now Trump has temporarily eased sanctions on Russian diesel and announced a deal for Russian fuel, while Putin is already talking up wider US–Russia cooperation.
Trump also announced an energy ceasefire. Ukraine said it had not agreed to the terms and was still waiting to see the details. Russia kept striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, Kyiv was being pressed to stop hitting Russian refineries.
That is a peculiar kind of deal: the announcement arrives first; the agreement is still being argued over.
Beijing didn’t blink either.
Trump reached for tariffs; China reached for rare-earth export controls. Those minerals matter to industries the US can’t replace overnight. The two sides stepped back from their biggest threats and paused parts of the trade fight. China had prepared leverage. Trump had to negotiate around it.
Netanyahu got the American backing he wanted. Putin got sanctions eased while his war continued. China showed it could make Trump retreat from a threat by using leverage it had prepared in advance.
Trump can call himself the dealmaker.
On 3 November, voters decide whether they believe him.
References & further reading
- Associated Press — Trump’s promise to end the Ukraine war in 24 hours
- White House archive — Trump’s UN General Assembly remarks
- Reuters — Netanyahu’s case for joint military action against Iran
- Reuters — What’s in the Putin–Trump diesel deal?
- Associated Press — The Kremlin’s view of the diesel deal and energy truce
- Reuters — China’s trade leverage before the Trump–Xi summit
- USA.gov — US midterm elections
- The Guardian — Analysts question the diesel deal’s effect on US prices