Donald Trump descends on Davos as if he were in Apocalypse Now. Four years ago I saw his cavalcade of helicopter gunships fly over the town. With the noise echoing off the mountain valley sides, he drowned out all the other conversations. This week his inauguration speech in the Congress Rotunda – watched in huddles around screens at Davos – had a similar effect. Withdrawing from the Paris climate talks and the World Health Organisation, the President was napalming the global international order which is celebrated here. And yet, apart from Bill Clinton in his final year in office, no American president has come to the World Economic Forum – except Trump. His address on Thursday (by video link) will be his third appearance. He loves it here. Why not? Deals to be done. Money to be made. Businesses to schmooze. Thinking you’re at the centre of things. Trump is the ultimate Davos Man.
One of the big American CEOs told me he’d been strong-armed into putting $1 million into the collecting tin for the inauguration – but he refused to attend. That was a step too far. Not for the bosses of Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon, who found themselves in prime seats. Power is where power goes, Lyndon Johnson used to say. But then came Trump’s inaugural address and with each out-there statement – ‘I was saved by God to make America great again’ – a standing ovation from the audience of devoted supporters. Only Biden, Harris and the former presidents sat stony-faced. I could see the tech barons wondering what to do.
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