US president said his horrific blow-up would make ‘great television’ – the White House has never seen anything like it

• Don’t let a billionaire’s algorithm control what you read. Download our free app to get trusted reporting

“This is going to be great television,” Donald Trump remarked at the end. Sure. And as they slipped into the icy depths, the captain of the Titanic probably assured his passengers that this would make a great movie some day.

Trump on Friday presided over one of the greatest diplomatic disasters in modern history. Tempers flared, voices were raised and protocol was shredded in the once-hallowed Oval Office. As Trump got into a shouting match with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a horrified Europe watched the post-second world war order crumble before its eyes.