It wouldn't have mattered. Zelensky's humiliation was guaranteed; it was part of the plan all along. Your analogy fails with regard to the bit where the powerful actor succumbs to hubris. It isn't hubris with Trump and Putin (the deus ex machina in this play). Their motive is vengeance. Militarily and economically Trump and Putin hold all of the cards now. United as one, they are going to wipe the very idea of an independent, democratic Ukraine from the face of the earth. It's a nice fantasy to think that that such hubris is not far from a fall, but reality points in the opposite direction.