A Textbook Moment in Diplomatic History Illustrates the Power of Storytelling, Words and Gestures

DISCLAIMER: Writing this newsletter, I was surprised to find that I had to transcribe much of the original Trump-Zelenskyy conversation myself, as the media transcripts I found, published after the briefing, contained too many editorial flaws to rely on. They also edited out significant repetitions and interjections, critical to understanding the emotional dynamic, the key psychological cues and the final communication outcomes.

By now, chances are you've developed a strong aversion to even the slightest reference to the infamous Trump-Zelenskyy press briefing. So if anyone dares to revisit the “Oval Office Fallout” territory at this stage, they’d better have something truly compelling—better yet, eye-opening—to say.

The Oval Office has seen its share of memorable moments, but what transpired during this last briefing felt nothing short of extraordinary—on so many levels. Mere minutes after it ended, it was already clear: this might just go down as one of the top three most-watched and most-talked-about White House briefings of all time.

I've watched dozens of White House press meetings over the years (or, to be more precise, decades), but none like this. Not even close. And I say that after watching the full 50-minute meeting twice, scrutinizing both verbal and nonverbal cues.

For the first 40 minutes of its less-than-50-minute runtime, it had every chance of being just another routine, formal gathering—until it wasn’t.

Lost in translation?

Rarely have communication skills mattered as much as they did in those final 10 minutes. And by "skills," I don’t just mean fluency, style, language command or personal charisma—though those play a role. More importantly, it was about communication risk assessment, meticulous preparation, and, ultimately, negotiation and storytelling strategy.

In other words, it was just as much (if not more) about the individuals in front of the cameras as it was about the teams of communication experts, advisers, speechwriters, and strategists who had done their homework beforehand.

A stronger command of English would no doubt have helped him in this particular predicament, but it wasn’t so much a matter of language proficiency as it was one of strategic clarity, precision, priority, and risk management.

It’s one thing to convey your messages effectively when you're speaking to a friendly, approving (or admiring) audience, eager to appreciate your perspective uncritically; it’s quite another to negotiate with a fierce critic, waiting to exploit your every mistake, regardless of true intention.

The President's Last Words

There’s so much to unravel here that merely listing the analytical angles could fill a page. But for now, let’s set aside the emotional weight of this unusual exchange and focus on what exactly happened, why it happened, and how it could—or should—have been foreseen and prevented.

Let's start at the end—and for good reason. To give you a sense of the language and communication standards at play here, let’s begin with Donald Trump’s closing statement in response to to a reporter's question about Vladimir Putin potentially breaking a prospective ceasefire [47:20]:

DONALD TRUMP: What if a bomb drops on your head right now? Okay? What if they broke it? I don't know! They broke it with Biden, because Biden, they didn't respect him. They didn't respect Obama. They respect me! Let me tell you. Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phoney witch-hunt. They used him and Russia! Russia, Russia, Russia! You ever hear of that deal? It was a phoney deal. That was a phoney Hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam. Hilary Clinton, shifty Adam Schiff. It was a Democrat scam. And he had to go through that. And he did go through it. We didn't end up in a war. And he went through it.

However striking the president's style may seem at this point—even after years of abundant, polarising, and arguably "unhealthy" exposure—what follows is at least equally remarkable and thought-provoking. Speaking of Putin, Trump continues:

He was accused of all that stuff. He had nothing to do with it. It came out in Hunter Biden's bathroom. It came out of Hunter Biden's bedroom. It was disgusting! And then they said [mocking tone]: Oh, oh, the laptop from hell, was made by Russia. The fifty one agents! The whole thing was a scam. And he had to put up with that. He was accused of all that stuff.

All I can say is this: he might have broken deals with Obama and Bush, he might have broken them with Biden. He did, maybe. Maybe he didn't. I don't know what happened. But he didn't break them with me. He wants to make a deal. I don't know if he can make a deal. The problem is I've empowered you to be a tough guy and I don't think you'd be a tough guy without the United States. And your people are very brave. But you’re either gonna 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. But you don’t have the cards. But once we sign that deal, you’re in a much better position, but you’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest. That’s not a nice thing... All right, I think we’ve seen enough. What do you think? This is going to be great television. I will say that.

And "great television" it was — MAGA great, even!

Let's go back to the beginning, i.e. the roots of "growing irritation", as the conversation unfolds.

The briefing starts with Trump complimenting Zelenskyy and his brave countrymen, only to proceed to:

We have something that is a very fair deal...we look forward to getting in and digging, digging, digging, and getting some of the rare earth [...] We're going to sign...in the East Room, right after lunch [2:45]

When Zelenskyy's turn comes, he chooses to begin by reaffirming the fundamental context of the conflict—likely seeing it as necessary. He includes photos highlighting Putin's ruthlessness and credibility issues in deal-making:

He's a killer, a terrorist...and, of course, no compromises with the killer about our territory" [4:10]

Almost 15 minutes into the conversation, a question comes from Polish correspondent Marcin Wrona (?). The first of many: Will you continue sending military aid to Ukraine after the U.S. signed this agreement with Ukraine?

And another question to Zelenskyy: Do you feel like the U.S. is on your side—that President Trump is on your side at this moment?

ZELENSKYY [to Trump]: What do you think?

TRUMP: [thinking Zelenskyy didn't understand the question!] He wants to know do you think that...sort of a stupid question! I guess we wouldn't be here if I wasn't.

Flattering your favourite "media minions"

About 17 minutes into the briefing, two questions are raised by Brian Glenn, of the conservative Real America's Voice network:

Mr President, I've got two questions: You think, ultimately, your legacy will be the peacemaker and not the president that led this country into another war and ended foreign wars?

Let’s pause for a quick critical-thinking exercise: When you see a name like Real America’s Voice, do you sense a hint of implicit “accusatory” bias embedded in it? If you're familiar with propaganda theory, Orwellian connotations might be your first association.

Given America’s status as a global trendsetter, it’s hardly surprising that Poland, for example, now has its own radical right-wing news outlets—eager to mimic much of Fox News' methodology—constantly emphasising that they are “the only truly Polish news programs,” representing “true Poles.”

Inevitably, Brian’s question is met with instant, lavish gratitude from the president (unlike the earlier "stupid" question), complete with a personal compliment: He's a great guy!

And so, quite logically (expectedly, even) Glenn's question naturally sets the stage for Trump’s dramatic declaration: This could lead into the Third World War—followed by the customary (and strikingly irrelevant!) rant about how he had won in a landslide with a strong mandate.

Enter Brian's second question...

Do you ever...why don't you wear a suit? ... Do you own a suit? A lot of Americans have a problem with you not respecting the dignity of this office!

I guess there's no need to dwell too much on why this question was asked, by whom, in what context or even how Zelenskyy responded to it (with a pinch of good-natured humour). Instead, let's proceed to Trump's statement of intention:

TRUMP [20:15]: I want to get the deal done [repeated]. Security is easy! It's about 2% of the problem. I'm not worried about security, I'm worried about getting the deal done. The security is the easy part. Security is very nice: everybody stops shooting! [...] We'll have security in a different form. We'll have workers there, digging, digging, digging, taking the raw earth so that we can create a lot of great product in this country.

Hospitality it was not!

A little over 20 minutes into the conversation, Zelenskyy's face begins to show visible signs of fatigue. There's a growing discomfort in his demeanor—particularly at [21:36, 35:10].

Some of it may stem from the increasingly transactional tone of what, for him, is undoubtedly a far more personal conversation. But it’s also likely due to the unsettling shifts in the new U.S. administration’s narrative on the war—shifts that no leader in Zelenskyy's position, with a sense of dignity, would silently accept. Especially when history is being rewritten in his enemy’s favour—by his key ally, no less.

Around the 21:30 mark, another right-wing reporter poses yet another obsequious, long-winded question, clearly designed for the Please love my kind of journalism effect—this time under the banner of One America News.

And once again, Donald Trump lavishes the journalist with praise before addressing the question.

Oceans apart...

ZELENSKYY [32:00]: Like the president said, you have a big, nice ocean between us, but if we will not stay, Russia will go further, to Baltic States and to Poland, by the way, but first to the Baltics. It's understandable for them because they've been USSR, they've been one of the republics of the USSR and Putin wants to bring them back to his empire. It's a fact. And when he'll go there, if he will not stay, YOU WILL FIGHT, YOUR, AMERICAN SOLDIERS... It doesn't matter if you have ocean or not, your soldiers will fight.

Trump responds with predictable resistance—just as he does whenever someone speaks with even a hint of a threatening undertone. From this moment on, the tide begins to turn, building into what will later become a tsunami of high-pitched interjections.

Angered by Zelenskyy’s warning posture, Trump paints a grim picture of destroyed Ukrainian cities and devastating losses. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy attempts to calmly correct what he sees as a dangerous and unfair mischaracterisation. He explains that Ukrainian cities are very much alive and that Ukrainians are doing their best to maintain a sense of normalcy despite the tragic circumstances. He concludes by suggesting that it may, in fact, be Putin who spreads—and benefits from—such a defeatist narrative.

In Putin's defence

TRUMP: "My whole life is deals. I've known him for a long time. I've dealt with him for a long time. He had to suffer through the Russia hoax. You know: Russia, Russia, Russia. It was a hoax. It was all Biden...so he had to suffer through all that...he was able to do that"

Around 37:50, Trump makes what he no doubt sees as a jocular reference to a CNN correspondent:

Focus on surviving, because CNN has such low ratings that I don't think they're going to survive [another journalist's loud laughter is heard in the background]

TRUMP [39:25]: You see the hate he's got for Putin. It's very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate. He's got tremendous hate. And I understand that. But I can tell you the other side isn't exactly in love with, you know, him, either.

Symbolically, this classic example of Trumpian whataboutism—his habitual blurring of ethical accountability—marks a pivotal moment in the conversation. It not only initiates a comparatively long chapter of defending Putin but also implies that both sides share nearly equal blame for the conflict. Even more strikingly, it suggests that Zelenskyy’s excessive emotions are what make negotiations difficult, if not impossible.

In short, Trump casts Zelenskyy as the irrational and unreasonable actor—not just in the negotiations themselves, but in the Russia-Ukraine conflict at large.

TRUMP [39:40]: You want me to be tough, I can be tougher than any human being you have ever seen, I'd be so tough. But you're never gonna get a deal that's the way it goes.

Enter J.D. Vance!

It’s 40 minutes into the conversation, and despite a few small hurdles, things seem to be heading in the right direction—until the president’s chief underling decides now is the right time to add his invaluable contribution.

As if the situation weren’t already symbolic enough, take a look at the screenshot above. You’ll notice Trump’s reflection in the silver platter, right next to J.D. Vance. Almost theatrical in its appeal, isn't it?

Zelenskyy continues with what is undoubtedly a conscious, strategic decision: to maintain a calm, composed tone throughout the conversation and avoid being easily provoked. This is something he must have been advised on, given the high volatility of his interlocutors and the “Zelenskyy is a dictator” narrative that had been building over the past few weeks.

ZELENSKYY [41:00]: During 2014 till 2022 the situation the same - people been dying on the contact line. Nobody stopped him. We had conversations with him, a lot of conversations...We signed with him the deal, with him, Macron and Merkel, we signed ceasefire [...] after that he broke the ceasefire, killed our people and he didn't exchange prisoners.

And then, all hell breaks loose! What was likely intended as a joyful, deal-signing media event now takes an "unwelcome turn," compounded by increasing references to Putin’s legacy and personal credibility—issues Trump is eager to address (consistently in Putin's favour!) in his closing remarks.

Got to be more thankful!

J.D. VANCE [42:15]: Mr President, with respect, I think it's disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president [...] and do you think it is respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?

At this point, the conversation becomes a lot more dynamic, with both Trump and Vance increasingly confrontational tone and body language.

Zelenskyy: First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you. But you have nice ocean and don’t feel now. But you will feel it in the future. God bless...”

Trump [interjecting]: You don’t know that. You don’t know. Don’t tell us what we’re gonna to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re gonna feel.

Zelenskyy: I’m not telling you. I am answering on these questions.

Trump: Because you’re in no position to dictate that.

Vance [interjecting] : That’s exactly what you’re doing.

Trump: [repeating slowly and emphatically] You are in no position to dictate what we’re gonna feel. We’re going to feel very good. We’re gonna feel very good and very strong

Zelenskyy: You will feel influence.

Trump: We are going to feel very good and very strong.

Zelenskyy: I am telling you. You will feel influence.

Trump: You’re, right now, not in a very good position. You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position – and he happens to be right about it.

Zelenskyy: From the very beginning of the war...

Trump [interjecting]: You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.

Zelenskyy: I’m not playing cards. I’m very serious, Mr. President. I’m very serious.

Trump [44:00]: You’re playing cards. You’re playing cards. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III [repeats emphatically pointing his finger patronisingly at Zelenskyy] You’re gambling with World War III!

Zelenskyy: What you're speaking about? What you're speaking about?

Trump: And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country!

Zelenskyy: I'm with a lot of respect to your country

Trump: You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III.

J.D. VANCE [44:15]: Have you said "thank you" once?

Zelenskyy: A lot of times!

J.D. VANCE: No, in this entire meeting, have you said thank you?

Zelenskyy: Even today!

J.D. VANCE [raised voice]: You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who is trying to save your country.

Zelenskyy: Please, you think that if you will speak very loudly...

Trump: He's not speaking very loudly

Trump [44:35]: He is not speaking loudly. He is not speaking loudly. Your country is in big trouble.

Zelenskyy: I know. Can I ask…

Trump: Wait a minute! No, no, you’ve done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble.

Zelenskyy: I know.

Trump: You’re not winning. You’re not winning this. You have a damn good chance of coming out okay because of us.

Zelenskyy: Mr. President, we are staying in our country, staying strong. From the very beginning of the war we’ve been alone and we are thankful. I said thanks in this cabinet.

Trump: You're not alone. You haven't been alon. We gave you, through this stupid president, $350 billion dollars. We gave you military equipment. And your men are brave but they have used our military equipment.

Zelenskyy: You voted for your president. You voted for your president. You invited me to speak...

Trump: If you didn’t have our military equipment, if you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks.

Zelenskyy [ironic tone]: In three days. I heard it from Putin. In three days!

Trump: Maybe less.

Zelenskyy: Of course, yes.

Trump: It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this. I tell you.

Vance: Just say thank you.

Zelenskyy: I said a lot of time thank you to American people.

Vance: Accept that there are disagreements, and let’s go litigate those disagreements, rather than trying to fight it out in the American media, when you’re wrong. We know that you’re wrong.

Trump: But you see I think it’s good for the American people to see what’s going on. I think it’s very important. That’s why I kept this going so long. You have to be thankful. You don’t have the cards.

Zelensky: I'm thankful.

Trump: You’re buried there. You people are dying.

Zelenskyy: Don't. Please. Mr President!

Trump: You’re running low on soldiers. Listen, you’re running low on soldiers. It would be a damn good thing. Then you tell us, [mocking Zelensky ironically] “I don’t want a ceasefire. I don’t want a ceasefire". I wanna go and I wanna this. Look, if you could get a ceasefire right now, I tell you, you take it so the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed.

Zelenskyy: Of course we want to stop the war.

Trump: But you're saying you don't want a cease-fire. I want a cease-fire!

Zelenskyy: But, as I said to you, with guarantees.

Trump: Because you get a ceasefire faster than an agreement.

Zelenskyy: Ask our people about the ceasefire, what do they think.

Trump: That wasn’t with me. That wasn’t with me. That was with a guy named Biden, who was not a smart person. That was with Obama. Excuse me, that was with Obama, who gave you sheets and I gave you javelins. I gave you the javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets. In fact, the statement is "Obama gave sheets and Trump gave javelins". You got to be more thankful, because, let me tell you, you don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards, but without us, you don’t have any cards. It’ll be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have to change.

A critical-thinking exercise

Before we proceed to some key conclusions, here's a brief look at some of the reactions on the "MAGA right" side of the spectrum, starting with the POTUS himself:

The name is DOGE, Elon DOGE!

Looking at Elon Musk's activity on "X" feels like a remarkable example of time management efficiency, especially given the bewildering diversity of his many descriptions and passionate endeavours. It takes quite a few minutes just to scroll through his customary one-day activity on "X" (tweets, comments, reactions)!

Having spent some time reading his tweets, my first "euphemistic" reaction would probably be that there’s a deep sense of irony in his use of the word "distasteful" in just about any context—let alone when describing how he himself would "handle" Zelenskyy’s future (see below)

The Golden Age of "non-fake, real American" voices

Needless to say, with Trump now in his second term, there are hundreds of "real American voices" to choose from on YouTube alone. Some of these homegrown channels now boast multi-million-strong audiences and understand modern audience-building better than many legacy media brands. Nor are they confined by factors such as business ethics, the need to maintain language standards, etiquette and manners.

Sadly, what nearly all of them seem to have in common is the need to polarise, antagonise, stigmatise, and label—complete with an abundance of slanders and conspiracy theories.

Let me leave you with two, more or less random, examples of right-wing commentary! To start with, here's Jesse Watters and his customarily balanced headline: "Zelensky really screwed up". I strongly encourage you to watch the entire segment, if only to see how your perspective is shaped by a series of editorial and storytelling choices.

If that’s not enough, here’s another clip featuring a once very popular Fox News anchor and a former lawyer, Megyn Kelly, joined by two female commentators—one born in Russia, the other in Belarus—with a glass of Russian vodka (?) in front of them.

If careful analysis of manipulation techniques is something you find interesting, Kelly's 2018 Putin interviews are well worth at least a separate chapter in a manipulation-theory textbook.

Is there a "shock ceiling"?

I guess we’ve got to give it to Trump: no matter how many times you think you’ve reached the peak of his "jaw-dropping-form-and-substance capacity," he typically only needs a few hours (or days, at best) to raise—or lower—your bar even higher.

In theory, the last few weeks of White House communications (both direct and indirect, official and unofficial) surrounding the Russia-Ukraine conflict should have prepared Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the "lion’s den" scenario, packed with all kinds of image-building traps, big and small. But prepared he was not.

After being accused of starting and mismanaging the conflict, becoming a dictator, or refusing to hold democratic elections (on top of other insinuations), Zelenskyy should have been much better prepared for this particular visit. Easier said than done, right?

Was English the main barrier?

Let’s face it: from a communication strategy perspective, Zelenskyy could (and perhaps should) have anticipated what he was in for and prepared much better. In my opinion, he continues to underestimate the importance of improving both the strategy and clarity of his key communication, storytelling and negotiation soundbites.

None of these are easy to learn, even with plenty of free time and abundant resources at your disposal. Therefore, it will take genuine humility on Zelenskyy's part (and the guidance of a great communication strategy mentor or two!) to make meaningful improvements over a short period of time. However, at this stage of the conflict and with this U.S. administration, no other skill gaps could possibly matter more!

Given how many speeches he has delivered over the past three years and how many world leaders and governments he has engaged with on countless occasions, one would hope someone on his team should be providing him with MUCH SMARTER STRATEGIC SUPPORT in at least some of the aforementioned areas.

One last thing...

We've all been there, haven't we? In the countless everyday situations where a single choice of word, phrase, gesture, tone, or intonation determines a disproportionately large outcome... sometimes irreversibly. As a result, what was once unthinkable becomes a reality in no time, forged in the unpredictable chaos of direct, emotional interactions.

Then, there are all those "big moments" in life—with potentially transformative, long-term impacts attached. Whether it's a job interview, conflict resolution, a long-term partnership, or a friendship that suddenly turns sour after years of love, trust, and mutual admiration, the very same mechanisms often apply. In short, you can live your entire life without ever realising that a single, seemingly innocent skill gap (or lack of relevant context awareness) in a specific situation, often lasting only seconds to minutes, will have a (trans)formative influence on everything that follows.

Multiply that by a thousand, and you might begin to understand the burden of psychological pressures, decisions, and moral dilemmas that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been operating under for well over three years now—without as much as a day’s respite and talking to THOUSANDS of government representatives, world leaders, and all kinds of other (celebrity) stakeholders along the way!

And so, as media reports from around the world have consistently proven over the past few days, much can be said about what happened in that fateful Oval Office meeting. Sadly, hospitality, decency, or good manners were not meant to be on the list.

Remember, the mood was set with Trump's mocking welcoming words, at the entrance to the White House: "He's all dressed up"!