And all this on his first trip to the UK since his re-election, but just weeks before he makes an unprecedented second state visit here in September.
The talks at Turnberry began with the spectacle of the president gushing about the prime minister’s wife, Victoria, as she stood alongside him, the entire conversation almost drowned out by a nearby bagpiper.
The leaders then spent more than half an hour talking one on one, before a classic of the Trumpian genre – a rolling, free-wheeling question-and-answer session with reporters, lasting more than an hour.
The topic list: turbines, Germany, free speech, Scottish independence, China, the King, interest rates, pharmaceuticals. Among other things.
For Sir Keir Starmer, both on and off camera, this all amounts to invaluable face time with Trump, even sharing a lift on Air Force One, burnishing a relationship as solid as it is improbable.
The jeopardy for him is clear too though: riding shotgun with a free-wheeling president at ease shooting the breeze with reporters seemingly forever.
Sir Keir interjected with care, to defend the mayor of London, heavily criticised by the president, to explain his immigration policy and his outlook on Gaza.
An earlier rolling encounter with reporters took No 10 by surprise: the prime minister’s wife, standing next to the president, perfecting her poker face as the questions – and answers – flowed and flowed.