The inveterate triumphalist and (more recently) expansionist in President Donald Trump was in full fury yet again during his self-congratulatory inaugural address to the joint session of the U.S. Congress on March 4.

Forget the glaring omissions of the customary elaboration of the government’s legislative priorities and appeals for bipartisan cooperation in a presidential opening statement, these evidently belong in another era.

Instead, the President taunted the Democratic opposition in Congress, criticising his predecessor Joe Biden as the worst leader in U.S. history. Rather, he was saved from the assassin’s bullet so that he could ‘make America Great Again’.

America, President Trump declared with characteristic bluster, had surpassed in a matter of only 40+ days since the beginning of his second term, the accomplishments of all the previous U.S. administrations put together. A habitual purveyor of falsehoods and naked untruths, President Trump boasted that the mandate he received on November 5 was for a “bold and profound change.”

Never mind that his 1.5-point popular vote was the smallest margin an elected President has secured since Richard Nixon in 1968. The Democratic Representative from Texas, Al Green, who in February filed for impeachment proceedings against the President, vociferously contested that claim was swiftly removed from the assembly.

The people had elected him to do the job, and he was doing it, the President went on to assert. He referred to about 100 executive orders the White House has issued, and four-times that number of executive actions carried out since January 20.

The brutal measures that he was trumpeting about left nobody in doubt, as President Trump celebrated the dramatic downsising of the federal workforce under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

He singled out to shower praise Elon Musk, the billionaire of X, formerly Twitter, who has exercised untrammeled authority over both federal and state governments even without holding any formal position. He then celebrated Washington’s inhumane migration and asylum policies and called for additional spending to continue his infamous border crackdown.

The President then turned to underscore his muscular foreign policy moves to Congress, pointing to Ukraine’s beleaguered President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s readiness to return to negotiations to end the war with Russia. Of such strategic significance is the rare earths agreement to the U.S. President that the spectacular bust-up last Friday at the White House with President Zelenskyy is part of trivia in the Trumpian scheme of things.

Only the other day, President Trump feigned surprise that he had previously called President Zelenskyy a “dictator.” He then resumed his aggressive attacks on a traditional U.S. ally, asserting that Washington would reclaim the Panama Canal to counteract against deepening Chinese interests in the central American nation. Across the Atlantic, Denmark, too, was not spared his recent favourite taunt, as he threatened to capture the autonomous Arctic Island of Greenland.

Even as President Trump addressed the chamber, Mexico and Canada were scrambling to respond to the 25% tariffs on imports that were announced hours earlier and are set to take effect from April 2. Simultaneously, the punitive levies slapped on China last month were doubled to 20%.

Noteworthy again is President Trump’s blithe disregard of the detrimental effects on the U.S. economy arising from his ill-conceived and erratic policies. He dismissed as a minor irritant the potential risk of inflation spiraling out of control, consequent to the additional burdens facing American businesses that economists have repeatedly cautioned against.

As the world comes to grips with the darkening geopolitical implications from President Trump’s combative address to Congress on Tuesday, the focus will shift to the emergency summit among European Union (EU) leaders in Brussels scheduled on Thursday. The outcome from the gathering will be keenly watched, especially after Washington, this week, abruptly announced the withdrawal of all aid to Ukraine.

But even before the EU leaders grapple with the challenge of formulating a concerted defence strategy, a formidable obstacle has emerged from Hungary’s autocratic Prime Minister, Viktor Orban. The cheerleader of both President Trump and the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has threatened to veto the bloc’s four-year 50 billion euros aid-package to enable Kiev to tide over the perilous state of its finances.

Mr. Orban vetoed the plan in December, laying down onerous conditions for any support. Brussels is, meanwhile, devising ways to hamper the Hungarian economy as a way to force Budapest to backdown, raising doubts whether all EU leaders could be convinced of such a course. Hungary’s EU minister has dubbed the move a political “blackmail.”

President Trump will very likely hit pause, if only momentarily, following President Zelenskyy’s pledge on Tuesday to return to the negotiating table. This slender opening affords some comfort against the backdrop of the recent rapid turn of events across the Atlantic. Politics is the art of the possible, goes the oft-repeated cliché. In these trying times, it should inspire enduring results. At least, that is the hope.