Quite apart from Donald Trump’s not-so-hidden collusion with Russia, there is a sense of inevitability that after kicking NATO and lending support to a hard Brexit (and thus, indirectly, encouraging the dissolution of the European Union), he should now go to meet Vladimir Putin.

Trump regards Europe a spent force – and in that he is in full agreement with Vladimir Putin. They both think that Europe without Washington’s support is a military weakling and a political pushover. They believe that Europe has lost its culture because of the influx of Islamic and non-white immigrants – Trump has just said it directly to his British hosts.