Trump Trolls the World Economic Forum (Again)
The annual summit of consensus braces for its greatest disruptor.
It’s Davos week—the yearly gathering of world leaders, billionaires, and unelected elites who descend on Switzerland in their private jets to warn each other about the dangers of carbon emissions while someone quietly warms the fondue. Normally the World Economic Forum runs like a Swiss watch: Klaus Schwab gives a sermon about stakeholder capitalism and reminds everyone they’re not nearly terrified enough of cyber-doom while a bunch of self-anointed visionaries nod solemnly. Picture the world’s most patronizing TED conference, only with first-class prostitutes and better catering.
But this year, things are… different. For one thing, it’s the first Forum gathering since Schwab stepped down as Chairman (following allegations of misconduct, ahem). For another, Donald J. Trump hasn’t even arrived yet, and he’s already hijacked the conference from 4,000 miles away.
The surly New York Times captioned their coverage of POTUS’s warm-up routine with this gem: “President Trump, who is scheduled to speak in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, has been heaping dismissive scorn on many of the leaders he will greet there.” (*They spelled not kissing their asses wrong.)
That’s one way to put it. Before the Diet Coke had even been loaded onto Air Force One, the man was on Truth Social posting AI images of himself planting the American flag on Greenland like he’s reenacting the (alleged) moon landing. It was pure Art of the Deal energy—or the exact opposite of How to Win Friends and Influence People energy, depending on your lens.
Also, can anyone envision any other world leader in history—or even an imaginary one—making foreign policy threats declarations by blasting pompous, inflammatory, self-congratulatory memes through his personal media megaphone? It’s so Trump, even TYPING IN ALL CAPS had to salute.
Trump to ChatGPT: “Okay, now generate an image of me in the Oval Office, very presidential, great hair. Gold everywhere. Put the European leaders in tiny chairs around my desk and make it look like I’m explaining something simple that they’re too stupid to understand. Now add a YUGE map of North America, and go ahead and drape the American flag over Greenland, Venezuela, and—what the hell—Canada, too. And don’t forget the beautiful hair.”
Trump is no stranger to poking the WEF. In his 2020 address, he walked onto their stage and did the unthinkable: he called members of the infamous club “prophets of doom.” Then he defended fossil fuels, praised tariffs, mocked climate urgency, warned against radical socialists wrecking economies, and basically credited America’s boom to doing the exact opposite of everything the WEF routinely champions. He even boldly proclaimed that a nation’s highest duty is to its own citizens—all while standing in the global capital of one-world-orthodoxy.
WEF CHAIR: He’s a nightmare! A walking liability. One wrong word from him and the whole forum looks like a clown show.
WEF PUBLICIST: Right. But if we don’t invite him, we look like gatekeepers running a curated club for approved opinions. It screams “controlled narrative,” “ideological bubble,” “please don’t notice we only platform people who agree with us.”
CHAIR: So we invite the human flamethrower… to prove we’re not afraid of fire?
PUBLICIST: Exactly. Openness, inclusivity, diversity—all the things we put in the brochure. Even if it gives us hives.
CHAIR: Fine. But can we at least hide the artisanal truffle bars?
This year, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent arrived in Davos ahead of POTUS and immediately began making the press rounds. Uncomfortably, CNBC Squawk Box co-anchor Joe Kernen opened his interview by reassuring viewers, “We’re okay here… we like it after a while… we don’t turn into total globalists, but we understand it’s important to be here.” Translation: Please don’t cancel us; we’re just here collecting frequent-flyer miles, not plotting a planetary currency. Honest.
When Kernen asked Bessent about the president’s intended message—specifically with regards to Greenland, a topic guaranteed to spike WEF blood pressure—Bessent didn’t blink. “The U.S. is back,” he said, “and this is what U.S. leadership looks like.” No apology. No throat-clearing. Just a reminder that national sovereignty is still a thing, which is practically an act of arson on that fancy Alpine stage.
What’s really sending Davos into existential crisis mode, though, isn’t Trump’s meme-based foreign policy. It’s the creeping realization that their entire “spirit of dialogue” theme might actually get taken seriously. The WEF has always thrived on the ritualized exchange of identical “global challenges” platitudes. But now? They’re trapped hosting a man who treats international diplomacy the way most people treat group chats or family gatherings—loudly, chaotically, and with exactly zero regard for who gets offended.
I imagine organizers pacing the snow in $2,800 boots, trying to plan how to “manage Trump,” which is globalist code for how do we choreograph this thing so it looks like we’re in charge when everyone knows he’s the one holding the snow globe and shaking it?
It’s like watching a room full of valedictorians try to wrangle the world’s most charismatic delinquent. They know they can’t control him. He knows they can’t control him. But international etiquette requires that everyone pretend the WEF’s grand shared mission is intact and universally agreed upon.
And then there’s Gavin Newsom, who arrived at the annual echo-chamber summit to do what he believes the Lord put him on this earth to do: lecture people who didn’t ask for his opinion.
“It’s time to stand tall and firm, have a backbone,” the slimy governor scolded fellow attendees. “I can’t take this complicity. I should have brought a bunch of kneepads for all the world leaders. I hope people understand how pathetic they look on the world stage.” Ironic advice coming from the man who can’t stop his state’s smash-and-grab epidemic or the humanitarian crisis otherwise known as California’s homelessness explosion, but okay.
This is why Newsom is really in Switzerland: not to protect Europe from Trump, but to preemptively insert himself into the Trump Show before Trump arrives and eats the entire summit alive. He’s trying to get out ahead of the inevitable headlines: TRUMP STEALS DAVOS. AGAIN.
Trump is scheduled to address the well-heeled, politely hostile audience today at around 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. His speech is likely to be a mix of chest-thumping, tariff-threatening, and an earnest case for strategic ice ownership, which means you can expect a parade of hot takes, quotes ripped from context, and pre-written headlines to dominate your timeline for the foreseeable future.
At the end of the day, Davos isn’t even a forum anymore—it’s a stage play. Everyone pretends they’re shaping the world while quietly watching the one guy who actually might. They can manage scripted panels and obligatory applause. What they can’t manage is Trump reminding everyone—again and before his plane even lands—that real power isn’t in slogans or lecture halls, but in whoever’s willing to flip the script without blinking.
"annexing the dessert buffet" was just too fun, I had to vote for that!
Meanwhile... most of us ignore the hot air from Davos, we are too busy being frozen from the cold sinking down from Canada.
The WEF is so last year and they don’t even know it. It’s like bad fashion that should’ve never hit the stores. Just done.