The Envoy: Mastering the Art of Diplomacy with Trump and the World by Gordon Sondland

Author:Gordon Sondland [LLC, GDS Literary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781637585290
Publisher: Bombardier Books
Published: 2022-08-24T13:41:51+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

Dinner Parties and Destroyers

I’ve been at post for nearly a year and have attended countless events. Most of them were forgettable, perfunctory. Many were also enjoyable enough, but I sometimes found the meeting and greeting part of my job tedious—I had little appetite for standing around chatting while eating chèvre and cornichons. As the months have gone by, the time spent away from my family has grown more challenging. I wish circumstances would have allowed me to have a partner by my side at the endless stream of events, but I also knew it is vitally important for Katy to be back home in Portland overseeing the business, which has hit a few road bumps through no fault of hers. A partner of ours is showing his true colors in my absence, and they aren’t good. I also miss being able to drop in on my kids or see them easily on college breaks. I find I am also uncomfortable being away from the corner office for so long.

I also regret that the renovations at the ambassador’s residence are taking so long that I can’t host events more often myself, something I really enjoy. But I have an idea. One mainstay of the Brussels social calendar for the diplomatic set are national days. These celebrations of each EU country are held in Brussels at the embassy or the residence of the ambassador. They are usually somewhat boring “check the box” evenings—people go say hi, make the rounds quickly, and go home to watch TV.

The prospect of hosting a national day that few people cared about and even fewer would enjoy sounded lame. If we can really make a splash, the event can be more than fun and memorable; if we can get some high-level attendees, we can use it as a means to meaningfully advance the US agenda. My staff suggests a goal of raising $25,000 from corporate sponsors. We raise about ten times that much. The aim is to get the attention of the top leadership of the EU—ambassadors and others of that ilk rather than only deputies or staff. I also want to leverage the entertainment to motivate some foreign leaders to leave their formidable bubbles in order to help showcase my latest project, which was raising the profile of Volodymyr Zelensky, the newly elected president of Ukraine. He was not yet well known to Europe’s cognoscenti, and I figure I can help him and help us (us as in the US) if I help pave the way for him to make some key connections.

I meet Zelensky at his inauguration in Kyiv on May 20, 2019, which I attend as part of the official delegation from the United States. Vice President Pence was originally set to attend but couldn’t, so Energy Secretary Rick Perry is asked to lead the group. Others on the trip include US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker and Director for European Affairs for the United States National Security Council Alexander Vindman, who had essentially written himself into the delegation.

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