Signs that the person claiming to be great at mediation is wrong

Why, someone let's call him, Donald Is a Terrible Mediator

When you think of effective mediators, you picture someone calm, impartial, and adept at navigating complex disputes. Someone who listens, finds common ground, and lowers the temperature in a tense room. By every one of those measures, Donald has proven to be deeply unqualified as a mediator — whether in domestic politics or international affairs.

1. A Track Record of Escalation, Not De-escalation

Rather than resolving conflict, he has often inflamed it. From his rallies to his Twitter (now Truth Social) posts, his default mode has been to stir division. In political negotiations — like government shutdown standoffs or stimulus bill talks — he frequently undermined deals at the last minute or publicly contradicted his own team. That’s not strategic ambiguity; that’s confusion and chaos.

2. A Zero-Sum Mentality

Donald's worldview is rooted in "winners and losers." Effective mediation, on the other hand, requires a mindset where both sides can walk away with something. In the context of foreign policy, his approach to negotiations with North Korea, for example, prioritized showy photo-ops and personal flattery over substantive, sustainable agreements. No denuclearization occurred, and the talks ultimately collapsed.

3. Transactional, Not Trust-Building

Mediators need to be trusted — not just for what they say, but for how they act consistently over time. He frequently changed his positions, publicly berated allies, and abandoned longstanding diplomatic norms. Whether it was alienating NATO partners or pulling out of agreements like the Paris Climate Accord or a nuclear deal, he showed that he saw relationships as disposable. That’s poison to any mediation process.

4. Personal Ego Over Neutral Ground

A mediator must put the process ahead of personal gain. But Donald often made negotiations about himself. His attempts to mediate Middle East peace, for instance, heavily favored one side to the point that the other's leadership refused to engage. That’s not mediation — that’s taking sides and calling it a deal.

5. Lack of Empathy or Listening

Finally, good mediators listen more than they talk. Donald is famously impatient in meetings, prefers to dominate conversations, and is driven more by gut reaction than careful consideration. Empathy — understanding the perspective of both sides — isn’t just absent from his toolkit; it seems to be actively rejected.

Conclusion: Mediation Requires Skills Donald Doesn’t Have

It’s not just that Donald isn't good at mediation — it’s that his core traits are diametrically opposed to what mediation requires: humility, patience, fairness, and trustworthiness. Whether you're trying to end a war, pass a bipartisan bill, or resolve a business dispute, Donald's record shows he’s likely to make it worse, not better.

Why the above, well someone told me this week he'd be a really good mediator as he always got the best result for his client, I tried to explain the difference between making a deal for one client and the skills needed to mediate effectively and the above was sort of what I was trying to explain.