Cécile Alduy, professor of literature and French civilization at Stanford University and associate researcher at the Center for Political Research at Sciences Po, specializes in the analysis of political discourse. Co-author of Marine Le Pen prise aux mots. Décryptage du nouveau discours frontiste ("Marine Le Pen Taken at Her Word: Deciphering the Front National's New Discourse"), she analyzes for Le Monde the confrontation between US head of state Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, which took place on Friday, February 28, in the Oval Office of the White House.

Usually, this type of meeting with journalists in the Oval Office – a symbolic location of American power – is not only highly codified, but also totally formal: Nothing decisive happens there. The sole objective of the exercise is to provide a visual embodiment of power.

However, during the Ukrainian president's visit, Donald Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, together destroyed this static scenography to replace it with the codes of pugilism and verbal confrontation usually confined to talk shows, the channels of successful YouTubers and podcasters, and social media. Instead of keeping the power struggle quiet in front of the media, as is customary, it was staged to force Volodymyr Zelensky to sign an agreement: Donald Trump constantly downplayed the strengths of his Ukrainian counterpart, repeating that he didn't "have the cards," that he was at Vladimir Putin's mercy and therefore not in a position to negotiate.

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