The recently concluded World Economic Forum delivered a series of results that few of the leftist leaders who cow to the UN platforms and green agenda scripting had anticipated. Economic policy is also a component (hell, it's in the title after all), yet usually this is considered too dry for news copy, so killing the planet takes priority.
Every year, we get told how trenchant and vital these meetings are, and they manage to move the needle barely beyond blaming the U.S. for anything, and then trying to soak us out of guilt. While these are touted as serious annual global quorums, they inevitably devolve into the usual climate confabs, with the same pablum you could expect from any Greenpeace activist or Subaru owner with a rainbow bumper sticker.
All the usual celebrities were there, like it was "The Garden Gnomes of Rock" summer concert tour. The lickspittle press was enamored with the appearances, and at the same time insisted they served the undoing of the accursed President Donald Trump. It went about as well as collegians on Greek Row looking to blackball a pledge who had previously purchased their frat house.
There was John Kerry, promising to open up the U.S. coffers to all of the whims of Euro-trash eco dreams. Pulled out of a Tennessee tater cellar was Al Gore, with all his usual calamitous climate claptrap. And flouncing in with the energy of a boy band heartthrob (absent actual hormonal fan support) was Governor Brylcreem himself, Gavin Newsom.
Beyond these stunt performers were the actual people of import, and we were assured of all of their heavy gravitas. Our press was promising that the collection of national bosses was set to deliver condemnation on the president; and, to be fair, they tried. Macron was described as filled with a firm resolve and determination to take control – which would make it a first for a French leader. Canada's Carney was said to be sliding in and dropping the gloves, like a 4th line enforcer from the Vancouver Canucks.
Then, all of the promised domination was dispelled as the president strode in. Trump cleaned up like a squadron from Servicepro, and the stars of the show were promptly shunted to being little more than sideshow carnival barkers on site.
Al Gore was sequestered to hectoring about the planet dying to a group seated in a book club circle, resembling a former Nutrisystem sales titan reduced to trying to recruit a handful of retirees at The Villages outside of Orlando. John Kerry slinked away from Davos and ran to The New York Times, repeating the speech no one listened to in an op-ed no one read. But the biggest dog to become neutered was Newsom.
Gavin was clearly thinking he was going to be in campaign launch mode and feted by the Davos foreigners, only to realize he was lacking in charismatic content. He was prevented from the U.S. pavilion at the Forum, had a planned conference cancelled, picked a snark-fight with Scott Bessent and promptly regretted it, and the one sit-down panel he had with Ben Smith of Semafor made the news for all the wrong reasons.
Anyone who has seen a stand-up comedian dying on stage recognized Gavin struggling on Thursday. He was mugging to the audience after delivering what he felt were verbal broadsides against Trump, only to be met with silent responses from the crowd. He was bombing like it was Open Mic Night, only he did so in a $4,000 suit, rather than jeans and an American Eagle hoodie. Then he turned to an assistant to toss out items to tout how he was selling Trump kneepads, to promote the idea of CEOs and leaders selling out to the president.
It is a testament to the bubble of unreality Newsom occupies that he tried to push the concept of money influence in politics, immediately after he posed hours earlier with his sugar daddy backer, nepo billionaire Alex Soros. As the audience stared blankly while he stammered through his kneepad sales pitch, it was striking to see the governor managing to actually diminish the already minuscule respect of prop comics.
The world leaders did not fare any better. Macron was hailed when he took the stage in a pair of aviators while spouting his tepid invective about Trump. That people were impressed by his Biden countenance is hilarious enough, but it was learned that he went with the eyewear not to intimidate but due to an ocular impairment. So much for the Dark Brandon tough guy routine.
Mark Carney fared a bit better, but only for a brief time. His speech was filled with opposition balloon juice, such as complaints over tariffs, and the media swooned at his stern talk. Of course, Trump's own stern words received no such praise, despite the results. By Monday, the administration said in a joint call that Carney backpeddled on many of his speech elements, but then Carney came out with a tepid denial that he wavered. We can see the veracity of this claim as he tried to sound firm, but this detail about the White House phone meeting spoke volumes:
"The Prime Minister's Office declined to issue a readout of their conversation, as is typically done with calls between Carney and political leaders."
Tariffs are a topic too many manage to get wrong. The journalists and the leaders fail to see that tariffs are a tool of negotiation, and Trump's fluid application is part of his deal-making. The lack of contemplation is evidenced by the fact that Trump catches flak for installing tariffs, and then is criticised again for pulling back the very items his critics demanded he pull back. He's content with this. Let them have their empty prolix PR, so long as he gets their autograph on the deal.
Despite all of the pomp about the resistance to Trump, the president managed to pierce their party balloons with a three-pronged policy trident. Tariffs were but one tine. The Greenland acquisition was connected to this, and the tariffs were scaled back when he received the kind of support for a deal on Ice Island that he had been looking for. Denmark and NATO were far more agreeable during the conference than had been anticipated ahead of time. Huh, it is almost as if the press getting things wrong is a pattern more pronounced than seen on a paisley necktie.
Another detail to come out of Davos was the announcement of finalizing the Board of Peace, a body focused on rebuilding Gaza and operating independently of the United Nations. Trump managed to get 35 nations on board to this point. Some have declined, like Britain (over Russia's invite) and France (over UN fealty). The president managed to get Macron's sniffer in a crease when he said not joining could lead to a 200 percent tariff on French wine imports.
Carney, meanwhile, was told he could not sit at the cool kids' table. Canada was disinvited from joining, and Mark was told he is free to go to Italy and watch his country play curling.
As for the favored topic at these events, the environment? We'll jump feet first into that quagmire in the second part of this coverage.
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