Art of the Deal in Davos
You wanted a new Rush Limbaugh. There he is. His name is Donald Trump.
Quotes from Davos.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever: “We were used to very friendly presidents like Obama, and we didn’t notice that America’s shift isn’t tied to one presidency, it’s structural. America’s focus has turned toward the Pacific and its back toward the Atlantic, and this won’t change after Trump; it’s a structural shift.
“Regarding Russia, negotiating with Putin, in my opinion, is not a very good idea, because the Americans said: if you want to talk, talk calmly, but carry a big stick. We don’t have a big stick; we can only speak softly.”
Europe thought America was its big stick.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres: “The UN Charter is the foundation of international relations, the bedrock of peace, sustainable development & human rights. When leaders run roughshod over international law, picking & choosing which rules to follow—they are undermining global order & setting a perilous precedent.
“When a handful of individuals can bend global narratives, sway elections, or dictate the terms of public debate, we are facing inequality and the corruption of institutions & our shared values. The Charter is a compact which binds us all. All countries must adhere to it, fully & faithfully.”
Uncle Sam: You’re not the boss of me, chubby cheeks.
French President Emmanuel Macron: “We prefer respect to bullies. We prefer science to obscurantism. We prefer the rule of law and predictability.”
He said that while wearing glasses to hide his shiner.
More Macron: “If you want stability, you’re welcome in Europe. You’re welcome in France.”
Just avoid the No-Go Zones run by Muslim invaders.
European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: “Nostalgia will not bring back the old order. And playing for time and hoping for things to revert soon will not fix the structural dependencies we have. If this change is permanent, then Europe must change permanently too.”
By independence, she means a European caliphate.
Responding to a report that a Danish pension fund will dump $100 million in Treasury bonds, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, “Denmark’s investment in U.S. Treasury bonds—like Denmark itself—is irrelevant.”
The fund’s holdings were three millionths of the outstanding Treasury bonds.
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff: “The president hinted that we had contacts with Iran that led to the announcement that Iran stopped the killing. Iran needs to change its ways, and if that happens, we can arrange this diplomatically.”
We are in the talk softly stage as the big stick heads toward the Persian Gulf.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: “Greenland is not a natural part of Denmark, is it? It was not a natural part of Norway, not a natural part of Denmark. It is a colonial conquest. The fact that the inhabitants there have since grown accustomed to it and feel comfortable is another matter. But the problem of former colonial possessions is becoming ever more serious.”
Not to worry, comrade. Denmark will soon be a colony of Arabia.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte: “Trump is right. We have to do more there! We have to protect the Arctic against Russian and Chinese influence!”
You mean the 37 soldiers France, Germany and others sent this weekend are not enough to defend Greenland? Send more dog sleds then.
More Rutte: “I know many of you criticize Trump. But do you really think that, without Trump, would 8 big economies in Europe have reached the 2% defense spending target in 2025?”
If your country isn’t worth defending, why should the USA?
Ebba Busch, the deputy prime minister of Sweden: “Europe needs to toughen up. We need to hold the line. We will not be bullied or blackmailed to letting go of territory that is, in this case, Greenland’s and Denmark’s.”
Sweden needs to toughen up against immigrants. Sweden leads Europe in rapes. Half are committed by foreign-born men. 20% of Swedes are foreign-born.
Finland president Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb: “I can unequivocally say that Europe can defend itself without the U.S.”
Stubb 11 minutes later: “I didn’t say that Europe can defend itself without the U.S.”
Now I miss the Party Girl Prime Minister.
Politico reported, “Annoyingly for the president, Air Force One had to turn around 45 minutes later and return to Washington due to an electrical issue. Trump eventually left Joint Base Andrews for a second time—on a different aircraft—just after midnight, almost three hours late, so there’s a fair chance his speech today might be delayed.”
The media spin is the world laughs at him behind his back. But the reality is a mixture of fear and admiration.
He drew an SRO crowd that gave him a standing ovation as he took the stage.
Spriha Srivastava Of CNBC reported:
This week in Davos has been about many things: AI, geopolitics and markets. But President Donald Trump has been firmly at the front of everyone’s mind.
His much-anticipated address at the World Economic Forum drew thousands, with attendees queuing for hours to get into the Congress Hall.
I was one of them. I stood in line for more than an hour and a half. Even Blackstone Group
CEO Steve Schwarzman had to wait in line with the rest of us. I finally cleared security and found a seat—lucky, given that many were refused entry to the hall.
As the crowd packed in, the atmosphere began to resemble something closer to a star- studded concert than a policy forum. The audience included Apple CEO Tim Cook, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, World Bank President Ajay Banga, as well as senior political and business figures such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
There were some lighter moments before the speech began; Cook greeting Banga with a tight hug, Lagarde exchanging warm hellos with European officials—small, human interactions before the room shifted into anticipation.
Trump was met with loud applause as he took the stage for what many billed as the most closely watched speech of this year’s Davos.
He opened by saying it was good to see so many friends and “some enemies,” drawing laughter from the crowd. From there, he leaned heavily into self-assessment, describing himself as the most successful president and pointing to what he said were his major achievements accomplished in just one year.
You wanted a new Rush Limbaugh. There he is. His name is Donald Trump.
Trump: “NATO has treated the United States of America very unfairly. We never ask for anything, we never got anything. We actually took care of the needs of NATO for years and years, which I felt was always unfair. But I think it’s time that NATO steps up. Greenland is a vast, almost entirely uninhabited and undeveloped territory. It is sitting undefended in a key strategic location between the U.S., Russia, and China.”
If you defend the land, you should own it.
Trump: “Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way. They should be grateful, also, but they’re not. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that Mark Carney, the next time you make your statements.”
Carney is the queen of Canada since Justin Castreau abdicated.
Trump: “China is smart. They make windmills, sell ‘em for a fortune, and sell ‘em to the STUPID PEOPLE that buy them!
“Windmills all over Europe, all over the place, and they are LOSERS. One thing I’ve learned: the more windmills a country has, the more money that country LOSES. CHINA makes almost all the windmills, and yet I haven’t been able to find any wind farms in China!”
Don “Quixote” Trump, at your service.
Trump: “Without us, you’d all be speaking German and a little bit of Japanese, perhaps.”
This surprised the Germans, but they’ll soon be speaking Arabic and a little Mandarin.
Trump: “The explosion of prosperity and progress that built the West did not come from our tax codes—it ultimately came from our very special CULTURE. We have to defend that culture.”
Communists hate Western culture because it is an impediment to gaining power.
Macron attempted to rally Europe against Trump.
Trump: “I said, here’s the story, Emmanuel, you’re gonna do it and you’re gonna do it FAST. If you don’t, I put 25% tariffs on you and 100% on your wines and champagnes! ‘No, no, Donald, I will do it!’ TOOK ME 3 MINUTES!”
Sunglasses won’t hide that punch.
Trump: “The situation in Minnesota reminds us that the West cannot mass-import foreign cultures that have failed to ever build a successful society of their own.”
Communists think they can use Muslims to gain political power. The reality is quite the opposite.
The best thing Trump said on Wednesday came after his speech when he posted on Truth Social:
Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region. This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations. Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st. Additional discussions are being held concerning The Golden Dome as it pertains to Greenland. Further information will be made available as discussions progress. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and various others, as needed, will be responsible for the negotiations—They will report directly to me. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Victory is spelled T-R-U-M-P.
After days of saying Trump shouldn’t take Greenland by force, the disloyal opposition switched to mocking him for not invading Greenland.
Over on Fox News, Byron York and Bret Baier congratulated our favorite president.
YORK: “This was classic Trump! He wants something, then he asks for ten times that. The other side flips out. They go back and forth, it becomes a huge news story. Finally, they make an offer, he agrees to it and it’s kinda what they could have got in the first place!”
BAIER: “He says they’re wonderful people, happy to work with them. And suddenly it’s this dismount that we could predict by how it was set up at the beginning.”
YORK: “Yes, and the other side is happy because they think they dodged the bullet. So it’s classic Trump!”
Two years ago, the globalists at Davos were on top of the world looking down on creation. The main speakers were:
Chinese Premier Li Qiang, the highest-ranking Chinese official since Xi Jinping spoke in 2017.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
This year Davos was Donald Trump and nobody else. Love him or hate him, he owns the best military and has the power to tariff—forces he is not reluctant to use.
My morning starts with a Don Surber article. It’s like going back in time to real journalism.
The most important thing the Trumpster can do is fix our elections. Without fair elections all this winning will evaporate and we'll be right back where we started. The Donald knows this and I'm sure he has a plan. He just hasn't executed it. He's setting the table like he always does but he hasn't served the main course yet. The Dems will fight with what little they got. They know their party's existence is on the line.