As I watched — and then re-watched — the entire Oval Office exchange between President Trump and President Zelinskyy, I was reminded of an experience that I had in mediation as an advocate many years ago, before becoming a mediator. During a joint session, in front of opposing counsel, the mediator challenged my view, told me I had absolutely no defense and that I needed to settle. Naturally, I did not react well and the mediation ended, shortly thereafter, without a resolution. Notwithstanding the mediator’s prediction, my client subsequently prevailed at trial.
During the first 40 minutes of the Oval Office Meeting Between President Trump, Vice-President Vance and President Zelenskyy, President Trump was, to varying degrees, an effective “neutral” and President Zelinskyy was, to varying degrees, similarly an effective “advocate.” Unfortunately, the situation changed abruptly 40 minutes in, when President Trump invited “one more question” and the Vice-President, who had largely been quiet until then, interjected to express his own views.
In response, President Zelinskyy, ever the advocate, sought to once again explain — from his point of view — the history of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the reasons he did not trust President Putin to abide by a cease-fire or peace agreement without adequate security assurances.
Rather than respond in a way that might diffuse the tension growing in the room, the Vice-President chose to respond to President Zelenskyy as follows: “With respect, I think it’s disrespectul for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American Media.”
With the whole world watching — including, presumably, the Kremlin — the situation devolved even further when President Trump, among other things, angrily declared: “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now.”
From there, things continued to spiral out-of-control, with President Trump ultimately announcing: “You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out. And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s gonna be pretty, but you’ll fight it out.” Moments later, President Trump said: “All right, I think we’ve seen enough. What do you think? But this is gonna be great television, I will say that.”
The media was ushered out of the Oval Office and, less than 20 minutes later, President Zelenskyy was escorted out of the White House and back into his waiting limousine.
As one might have expected, the political reaction to what happened has been overtly partisan. Most Republicans, including Senators who had previously supported Ukraine without qualification, defended President Trump, whereas Democrats remained unified in support of President Zelenskyy.
My purpose in writing about Friday’s events is not to take sides, but to posit a simple hypothetical because I believe the Oval Office exchange provides a teachable moment.
Imagine an alternate universe in which a trained mediator had timely intervened and respectfully requested that the media exit the Oval Office before further discussions ensued.
We will never know what might have transpired, but it’s reasonable to assume there would have been less collateral damage had that taken place. Instead, the world seems to be in greater turmoil today and we are left to believe that the negotiating leverage of one party to the dispute has likely been strengthened while the negotiating leverage of the other has almost certainly been diminished.
When President Teddy Roosevelt coined the phrase “bully pulpit,” he was referring to his belief that being President of the United States afforded him an unparalelled platform from which to “preach” about his vision for the country. At the time, the common usage of the term “bully” was as an adjective that meant “superb” or “first-rate,” not today’s more common usage as a noun or a verb.
I can’t help wondering whether the meaning of the phrase “bully pulpit” is now destined to change.
As always, it would be my pleasure to assist you and your clients in the dispute resolution process. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can be of service.
Best regards . . .
Floyd J. Siegal