Like everyone else, I watched the extraordinary scenes in Oval Office between Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky on Feb. 28 with a mixture of amazement and excitement. I grew up watching American pro wrestling, and all those memories of Hulk Hogan facing off against Andre the Giant came flooding back.

On one level, it was exhilarating, but just as there was that nagging thought when I was a boy that pro wrestling might be staged, so too has there been a lingering thought that some aspect of what we witnessed, and its aftermath, might have been what is known in the business as “a work.” Directly following the Rumble at the White House, Zelensky left for London, where we were treated to stunningly surreal scenes of him hugging the leaders of Europe, before British Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised to support Ukraine with “boots on the ground” and “planes in the air.”

At first I believed I had witnessed something historic: finally, the U.S. Empire was falling. The architecture established after World War II was breaking down, and it was happening because Trump truly represents a break with the globalist elites that had gone before him. However, I stumbled across a probing analysis by Brian Berletic of The New Atlas, which was like having a magic trick revealed: once you see it, you cannot unsee it.

Berletic pointed out that everything taking place, including the supposed intransigence of the Europeans in their support of Ukraine, is happening according to plan: a “division of labor,” whereby Europe must lead in defending itself against Russia, while the U.S. focuses on China. This plan was not only outlined six years ago in a RAND Corporation white paper titled “Overextending and Unbalancing Russia” titled “Overextending and Unbalancing Russia” but also is the stated policy of Trump Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. In other words, the behavior we are seeing from European leaders at the moment is simply carrying out the direct orders of Washington. As Berletic put it, “the U.S. told Europe what to do, and Europe did it.” This was confirmed recently by British Defence Secretary John Healey, who told Hegseth to his face “we are doing what you wanted.”

A question, then: if this was the plan, why have I have just witnessed one of the most insane and histrionic weeks I can ever remember in the British media? Every newspaper has been attacking JD Vance relentlessly for supposedly disrespecting the British military (he didn’t) and every media outlet has been condemning Trump for cozying up to Putin, while banging the war drums for Ukraine. Ironically, there is probably less dissent allowed on this issue that the Soviets would have allowed in the pages of Pravda. 

What is the meaning of all this rhetoric? In pro wrestling, the suspension of disbelief—that is, the notion that wrestling is real, that the characters really hate each other, that the story lines are not scripted and so on—is called “kayfabe.” In British political kayfabe, Putin is Hitler, but also the Orange Man is also, sort of, Hitler as well—or worse, his appeaser. In British political kayfabe, the public is supposed to be rabid in their support of Zelensky and on funding the war effort, with Starmer cast as Churchill. The Boomer Truth Regime has never been more alive and well. In this pro-wrestling storyline, Trump is a “heel” (a villain to be booed by the crowd) and Zelensky is a plucky underdog “babyface” (a hero and fan favorite to be cheered).

In American political kayfabe, on the other hand, the public has just rejected the establishment and democracy has chosen Donald Trump. One of the reasons that the public chose Trump is that they are sick of funding foreign wars that have little to do with their lives, and Trump pledged to put a stop to all this. In this storyline, Trump is the babyface and those who supposedly disrespect him, such as the European elites and Zelensky, are the heels. 

For Hegseth’s plan to work, the American public have to believe they are not funding Ukraine anymore, while the British public have to be overwhelmingly in support of funding it. The system in Europe can harness hatred for Trump to further support for Ukraine and for rearming itself. The system in America, meanwhile, can use the recent spat in the White House to “turn Zelensky heel” and convince everyone that it is best that America withdraws from “ungrateful” and “uppity” Europe.

Thus, I hope you can see, that despite the ostensibly earth-shattering split between Washington and London, in reality nothing has changed: the U.S. is still calling the shots and dictating NATO policy. That is why Healey and Hegseth can carry on as if they are the best of pals. It is also why the new British Ambassador to the U.S., the Prince of Darkness himself, Lord Peter Mandelson, thinks things are going swimmingly.

In other words, the fireworks we are seeing on screen are much like the hostility toward each other that Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant were displaying on camera heading into their historic match at Wrestlemania III. That is what everyone—the “marks” at home—witnessed. 

What actually happened is that Hogan and Andre, good friends backstage, got one of the biggest paydays of their careers after playing their antagonistic roles to perfection, and set Vince McMahon (Donald Trump’s good friend, by the way) well on the way to becoming a billionaire.

Such is the hyperreality of politics in the West, the narrative is everything and everyone is playing their role well. I suspect we are about to find out that reality—which is to say, Vladimir Putin—has other ideas. ◆