Donald Trump’s whistle-stop visit to Malaysia for the ASEAN Summit lasted less than 24 hours, but that was ample time for the world to see a glaring reality: standing beside the sharply-turned-out ASEAN PMs, the American president was decidedly not the well-dressed leader of the free world he clearly imagined himself to be

Donald Trump and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Screen shot: ap/YouTube

Yesterday, on the tarmac of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on which Donald Trump did his dopey arrival dance as preface to peace, the U.S. president showed that he was indeed a diplomatic anomaly. Received by the Malaysian PM Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, he looked like a soybean farmer from Illinois on his first overseas trip than a commander-in-chief from Washington on a diplomatic mission. Or, a hayseed who mistook a summit for a sales convention, which, given his transactional flair, even in diplomacy, would not be surprising. For less than 24 hours, the self-styled leader of the free world paraded in a blue suit so familiar it may qualify for diplomatic immunity.

Mr Trump was greeted on the red-carpeted apron by the Malaysian PM, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Standing side by side, the two men could not be more different sartorially. The host was attired in a sharp anthracite suit over what appeared be a shirt of light blue and a tie of deep claret; he wore a traditional, black, unadorned songkok and a pair of brown-tinted shades—the embodiment of cultural fluency and calibrated cool. In sum, he appeared to respect the moment and looked gaya doing it. The U.S. president, however, wore his usual lumpy suit in a shade of blue that, in the sunlight, was neither bright enough to be Miami cool or dark enough to be diplomatic formal, and so over-worn it may soon qualify for UNESCO world heritage status.

The four leaders at the Thailand-Cambodia peace accord: (from left) Malaysian PM Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Thai PM Anutin Charnvirakul, Cambodian PM Hun Manet and U.S. president Donald Trump. Screen shot: forbes/YouTube

The highlight of Mr Trump’s Malaysian visit was purportedly to observe the signing of the peace plan between Thailand and Cambodia. Many news reports have described Mr Trump as “presiding” over the proceedings. But he was presiding without portfolio, just as the world’s seemingly most powerful man. The American president has no formal role in ASEAN, nor was he a mediator in the bilateral negotiations. His presence at the Thailand-Cambodia peace accord was not legally or diplomatically required—but it was politically and theatrically engineered to centre him as the peacemaker he has trumped himself to be. His presence at the signing was not required for ratification. The signing was rescheduled to accommodate his visit, turning a bilateral resolution into a Trump-branded spectacle.

At the ceremony, signatories Thai PM Anutin Charnvirakul, Cambodian PM Hun Manet were dressed in trim dark suits that whispered diplomacy and discipline. Their tailoring was precise, their posture composed—two men dressed not just for the occasion, but for a watershed event. Their shoulder stayed straight, their lapels laid flat, the trousers broke clean, and the message was clear: we came to seal peace, not steal the spotlight. Among the four of them on stage, Mr Trump wore the broadest tie, possibly the widest ever worn in Southeast Asia. Unknown to the schedule, it became a moment where clothing turned into commentary. The Southeast Asian leaders wore diplomacy while Trump wore ‘democracy’. If the White House’s East Wing needed a makeover, as Donald Trump has repeatedly said it required to justify tearing it down, so did he.