Trump's culture clash in Davos
Donald Trump`s speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos via video link recently was a mix of threats against the EU, Canada and others, unbridled self-praise and banal disparagement of the previous administration.
A panel led by WEF President Børge Brende listened to Trump. The panel included Patrick Pouyanné , CEO of TotalEnergies , Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, Stephen Schwarzman , CEO of Blackstone Group, one of the world's largest investment firms, and Anna Botín , who heads Spain's Banco Santander, one of the world's largest banks. Based on the current situation, these people are trying to look ahead, and they asked Trump to contribute his assessments.
Trump contributed with threats that countries that do not move production to the United States will face high tariff walls. The United States will take back the Panama Canal, and Denmark is being pressured to give up Greenland. Trump problematized the EU's demands for VAT and other taxes on American companies such as Google, Apple, and Facebook.
Trump’s message, since taking back the White House, is based on political thinking from the late 19th century, writes David Brooks, a columnist for The New York Times. While incoming presidents often cite George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, Trump mentioned William McKinley (1897-1901) in his inaugural address. The United States was then a nation of rebels, full of energy. The national psyche was shaped not by the intellectual elite on the East Coast, but by those who conquered the Wild West. America was anti-establishment. His first week back at the White House saw repeated attacks on the establishment. Davos is one example.
“The light is shining all over the world,” he told leaders in Davos. He believed the respect the United States had lost under Biden would now be restored. Trump argued that with the many executive orders he had issued since his inauguration, he had already accomplished more than other presidents had done in an entire four-year term.
International cooperation is only relevant if the US benefits from it, and with Trump’s zero-sum philosophy, this means that when the US gains something, other countries lose accordingly. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said to The Guardian: “We are now in a new era of fierce geostrategic competition.” On the positive side, European leaders hope this challenge will result in increased European focus on the challenges Trump has created. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde described the current economic situation in Europe as existential. She saw the necessity of regulatory changes that lead to economic growth.
The slogan America First, in reality, means Trump first. We have seen repeatedly that he does not hesitate to use any means to promote himself and his own goals. An example is the mass immigration across the Mexican border. This is not a new problem, and US authorities have made countless attempts to solve it. Biden introduced a series of bills under the title US Citizenship Act of 2021 to create a path to American citizenship for undocumented immigrants, funding increased border patrol, and researching the background to the heavy traffic towards the southern border.
This initiative eventually gained broad support among Republicans in Congress. So broad that the then-presidential candidate Trump interfered. On January 25 of last year, Republican Senator Mitt Romney told CNN that Trump had told senators that he didn't want to solve the problem now so that he could blame Biden for it and take credit for solving the problem later. Republicans withdrew their support, the bill did not pass, and now Trump is solving the problem by declaring a national emergency, closing the border, and sending 10,000 soldiers from the Army and National Guard there.
Elon Musk is being considered to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency. He aims to save $500 billion annually by cutting government waste. That money will come in handy when organizations like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (AFT) and U.S. Marshalls, with expanded powers, now beginning by arresting and deporting illegal immigrants.
In Davos, Trump boasted that he saved free speech in the United States from a government he accused of persecuting people who incited and participated in violence and destruction in connection with the storming of Congress on January 6, 2021. These people were held hostage, said Trump, who pardoned more than 1,500 instigators.
The participants at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos probably did not return home with renewed admiration for Donald Trump and his America, but they are aware that the world now looks different than it did before January 20. They do not expect Trump to put military force behind his demands. Nevertheless, they probably realize that they are facing a culture war, the scope of which no one yet fully understand.
Kåre Melhus
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