Suddenly voices were raised at the back of the room. “Has a fist fight broken out?” called the President. For a moment I wondered if Mr Corbyn had snuck in, posing as a hack. No, it was Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State, squeezing into the room

Desperate for an actual answer to a security question, I asked why North Korea had continued its nuclear programme despite three meetings between Mr Trump and President Kim Jung Un.

The President brightened. “I have a lot of confidence in him, we’ll see what happens” he answered, before continuing in a manner that did little to spread confidence.

“He definitely likes sending rockets up doesn’t he?” he said smiling disconcertingly at me. “That’s why I call him rocket man. It may work out, it may not. If I weren’t President you’d be at war right now in Asia and who knows where that leads.”

Attention was drawn back to the Nato member without the ‘tremendous spirit’ Mr Trump had mentioned at the start. Could he have been hinting at France?

“President Macron said Nato was brain dead,” Mr Trump started, “I think that’s very insulting. I was very surprised…It’s a tough statement, but when you make a statement like that, hat was a very very nasty statement to make to 28 countries. You just can’t go around making statements like that about Nato, it’s very disrespectful.”

“Nobody needs Nato more than France,” the President said, fully in his stride now, and seemingly oblivious to statements he has made in the past that seemed to question Nato’s viability.

“You just look back over the last, a long period of time. Frankly the one that benefits really the least is the United States.

“We’re helping Europe to go against a common foe. That may or may not be a foe. But there are other foes out there also. So that’s why when France makes a statement about Nato, it’s a very dangerous statement to make.

“I see France breaking off and I’m a little surprised at that.

“I’ve always had a great relationship with Emmanuel. Sometimes he’ll say things he shouldn’t say, but he’s gotta do what he’s gotta do. Sometimes I think he does things that are counterproductive to his own country.”

And with that we were ushered out of the room, blinking in the light, wondering if it had all been a dream, and concluding that sometimes Mr Trump has just gotta do what he’s gotta do, and we all have to make any sense of it we can.