How Many Rules of Negotiation Did Zelenskyy Break? All of Them.

President Trump repeatedly tried to help salvage Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's disastrous performance in the Oval Office on Friday. By the time the nest was hopelessly messed up due to Zelenskyy being drunk on his sense of entitlement, he was escorted from the White House. Soon thereafter, Trump was firing up Marine One to head out earlier than expected to Mar-a-Lago while Zelenskyy's people were left "texting and calling" and begging the White House to let him back in to talk to Trump.

Zelenskyy's Oval Office bloviating played well back in Kyiv, according to a personal Ukraine source, but by Western standards, he'd broken nearly every recognizable rule of negotiations. What a disaster.

While there were some miscues on Trump's part — for example, not knowing the depths to which treacherous Democrats and Obama dead-enders would go to encourage Zelenskyy to defy the U.S. — Trump's moves were masterful. His mastery was in direct proportion to Zelenskyy's later groveling.

My husband has negotiated high-tech contracts with top international companies whose names you would know, and there are several things he always told me about negotiations. Here are just four:

Everyone should believe they won something.
When you're in a position of strength, don't give it away for free.
Don't be afraid to leave the negotiations.
Don't tell your opponent when you're leaving.

One time, my husband made the mistake of telling his Chinese counterparts when he was leaving. He was leaving the next morning at 7 a.m. The Chinese prepped the negotiating battlefield, kept him negotiating all day, took him to dinner and a bar, and kept him up all night. All the while, the Chinese negotiators worked in teams, like a hockey line, calling for fresh legs when their negotiators started drooping. He never made the same mistake again.

Let's take a look at how well Trump did with my husband's suggestions.

Both the U.S. and Ukraine won something from the deal. Zelenskyy won a more formal relationship with the U.S. within that rare earth mineral deal, and Trump indicated that he'd secure it.
Trump leveraged his position to give each side something they wanted.
Trump gamely went along with Zelenskyy's antics as long as they led to a deal, and when the Ukraine leader went too far, Trump had him escorted out.
Trump left.

Moreover, Trump prepped the negotiating battlefield for Zelenskyy.

Trump sent two teams of negotiators to soften up Zelenskyy in the weeks and days before the signing. He balked but always said he'd sign the mineral deal with Trump.

The American president had both the French and UK leaders at the White House endorsing the mineral deal to show unanimity to Russia and Zelenskyy. It was an attempt to pressure Zelenskyy into signing the deal, which he'd previously said he'd do.

But, emboldened by his sense of entitlement and thinking he could completely change the plot, Zelenskyy detonated his Improvised Explosive Negotiation Device in the Oval Office and demanded more. Big mistake.

Trump's "The Art of the Deal" has several other rules, which Zelenskyy could have known if he'd bothered to prepare for the negotiations. He could have triumphantly told Trump, "You magnificent bastard, I read your book!" But there would be no such understanding from Zelenskyy. President Expensive Khaki Shirt lost the peace plot.

You can see that Trump followed his own "The Art of the Deal" rules.

Have a bold vision. Example: I want to buy Greenland. I want peace in Ukraine.
If the worst happens, have a few ways to get around it. This is a work in progress.
Tell people what you want. He let the world see Zelenskyy's duplicity.
Keep at it. It's a work in progress.
Follow through on promises.

Besides the deal itself, Trump's other master stroke was leaving. It was in-your-face — a move even Zelenskyy would understand.

WATCH IN FULL: President Donald J. Trump speaks to the press on the South Lawn of the White House pic.twitter.com/49lQwAi8dM
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 28, 2025

Reagan left Reykjavik. Trump left North Korea. And Trump left Zelenskyy to cry to the Europeans for more money — Trump's backup plan if all else went FUBAR.

The Europeans pledge to give the Ukrainian leader a deal, some of which doesn't kick in until 2027. The EU also says it's working to use Russia's frozen assets to give to Ukraine by this summer. You never know, maybe that will stop the killing and get Russia to a peace negotiation. Let's hope. But let's remember, "Hope is not a strategy."

Zelenskyy's spat with Trump ended at about 1:42 p.m. Eastern; the Ukrainian president was escorted away soon thereafter, and by 3:29 p.m. Eastern, Trump was talking to the media outside a spun-up Marine One helo on his way to catch a ride on Air Force One and away from Zelenskyy.

Before he left, Trump told reporters, "You saw what I saw today. That was not a man who wanted to make peace. And I'm only interested if he wants to end the bloodshed."

Zelenskyy's people were still texting and asking if he could return as Trump helicoptered away.