It may well go down in history as the most remarkable, brutal and shocking political event ever seen on live television.

But it may prove to be more than a piece of TV history.

It may be the moment an entire nation was wiped off the world map.

Or worse, it might trigger events that are a threat way beyond the borders of Ukraine.

A threat to the rest of Europe and, yes, a threat to Britain. There is no point denying it.

But the extraordinary televised clash between President Zelensky and Donald Trump and his sidekick JD Vance was not just momentous for what it meant to the global political situation.

It was the moment the world saw the truth about three men.

On one side, Zelensky – physically small, but a giant in moral stature – the comedian who became an accidental hero, elected to lead his country only to see it invaded by the murderous totalitarian monster that is Vladimir Putin.

How Zelensky rose to the challenge as he led his plucky nation’s brave resistance to evil Putin.

Every world leader worth their salt has queued up to praise Zelensky for his remarkable courage.

Britain – including Boris Johnson, for all his faults – can take pride in the way that he, and all of us, have supported Zelensky and Ukraine, with many Britons welcoming Ukrainians in their homes.

The raw courage of little Zelensky was there for all to see as he fought for his and his country’s life in the Oval Office.

And now let us look at the other two men in the room.

The vulgar, threatening, ignorant, snarling, arrogant bully that is the leader of the free world, God help us.

The man who had the nerve to call noble Zelensky a dictator and who cosies up to the dictator called Putin who ordered the attempted murder of people on the streets of Salisbury, never mind tens of thousands of innocent women and children in Ukraine.

And look at the vile piece of work that made up the trio, the bearded JD Vance. Acting like Trump’s burly enforcer thug, barking at Zelensky to show “respect” to the Godfather President.

It was as though they had defenceless Zelensky on the floor, jeering at him, vying to kick him in the head, determined to make him grovel, break his resistance.

But Zelensky is made of sterner stuff than these two Neanderthals. Was I the only one who cheered out loud as he stuck to his guns?

Heaven knows what the implications are of yesterday’s appalling scenes. Doubtless there will be some who blame Zelensky for not fawning over Trump, and accuse him of bringing the President’s wrath on his own head.

I disagree. All he did was to tell the truth: if the whole world – and, yes, including America – does not stand with Ukraine against Russia, the consequences will be unimaginable for Ukraine and, in all likelihood, the rest of us in the West, too.

Zelensky knows what is going on: Trump wants to sell Ukraine down the river so he can pillage its minerals, without offering any troops to keep Russia at bay in return – the so-called “backstop” security guarantee – and carve up other lucrative deals with Putin, with no regard to the fate of Europe, or anyone else whatsoever.

There is another way of looking at yesterday’s Oval Office atrocity. The world owes Zelensky a favour for showing the true face of Trump and Vance: a pair of gangsters who are waging war on truth and democracy and will threaten and avenge anyone who gets in their way.

We were all going to have to confront that fact sooner or later. It has just become a lot sooner.

There is another way to handle meetings with Trump in his Oval Office lair: promise to spend billions more on defence to save him money, throw baubles and red carpet visits to flatter his vanity, don’t contradict a word he says, grin when he patronises your wife, laugh at his crass jokes, and fall at his feet when he offers peanuts in return – like a deal on the Chagos Islands, for example.

That was Keir Starmer’s approach, and Trump was charm personified.

As we now see, it was an illusion.

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