“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

“Indeed, so here is a restraining order.”

“Don’t be facetious.”

“OK, how about absence makes the heart grow fonder of someone else?”

“Shush, be serious.”

“OK, so why mention absence? Who is absent in your life?”

“Well, this is with reference to President Trump.”

“I agree he is never absent — even when he is not present, he makes his presence felt.”

“You mean the Truth Social uploads and his calling up his favourite reporters to give them scoops and picks up their phone in case they call and…”

“Indeed, but he is the President of the US – if he wasn’t then many would be quoting him or seeking a sound bite from him….”

“Yeah, yeah, anyway, when I quoted the proverb absence makes the heart go fonder, I was actually not referring to President Trump, well, not directly.”

“There is no one absent that he wants around him. I mean, you can’t….”

“Stop, his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is not a chief negotiator, right?”

“He isn’t even a side negotiator, I would reckon he is a tertiary negotiator – see chief is the principal, leads strategy, and that is Witkoff and Kushner, then there is a side negotiator who handles internal communication and relays intelligence and the tertiary who acts as a support scribe or observer.”

“Well, Rubio is not into peace negotiations – you know, with Russia or Iran, but a…”

“Stop right there, he is the lead in South America, a neighbourhood where he hails from and need I say those South Americans are way easier to deal with than these Asians and Russians…”

“All I wanted to mention to you is that our Rubio is Ishaq Dar….”

“Hey, there was no seat available on the flight to Switzerland.…”

“I thought the Prime Minister’s plane….”

“Technical teams took up the bulk of space and…”

“Doesn’t he occupy a technical seat?”

“Well, for your information, he is a deputy prime minister, so in the US parlance, he is JD Vance.”

“That I believe.”