The remarkable scene of a vice president injecting himself into a tense diplomatic discussion suggested that JD Vance does not want to be relegated to the B-team of the Trump administration.

Trump and Vance have never seen war up close, but are still disgusted by it. They seem to have felt Zelensky, soaked in war’s horror for three years, needed a lecture about the peace anyone who had seen war would yearn for.

You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards," Trump said to Zelensky during a 10-minute back and forth rarely seen in the Oval Office.