Trump’s Storytelling in Davos
by Brent E. Zepke, Esq.
On Monday, January 20, 2025, at noon Eastern Standard Time, Donald J. Trump was sworn in as President of the United States.
That the time was noon, Eastern Time (9 am on the West Coast), distinguishes it from the final actions taken just a few minutes earlier by then-President Joe Biden, who had set a record of over 8,000 pardons, the last seven of which were six to members of his own family (in addition to his convicted son Hunter’s pardon, given weeks before).
On that same Monday, some 4,302 miles away, in Davos, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum (WEF) began its annual conference.
Davos is a mountainous town of 11,000 that, because of its similarities to Park City, Utah, a mountainous town of 8,378, caused us to consider visiting it, until our “not-to-be-missed” train ride over the mountains from Milan, Italy, to Zurich, Switzerland, whereupon we encountered October Fest in the Zurich train station.
Both towns have once-a-year events that draw participants from all over the world: Park City has the Sundance Film Festival and Davos the WEF.
Park City
Sundance Film Festival was begun when, in 1969, Robert Redford chose his semi-isolated, small ski resort (Sundance) and studio outside Provo, Utah, to be the place where “story tellers” could emotionally influence audiences without distinction between fiction and nonfiction. Later, the festival he created was moved to Park City to accommodate both the increasing numbers of attendees and the affluence of the participants.
Davos
The WEF was begun in 1971, when 33-year-old German-born professor Klaus Schwab invited European business leaders to the semi-isolated, small ski town of Davos, Switzerland, for meetings focusing on how European firms could catch up with U.S. management policies.
Like Park City, as the number and affluence of the participants increased, so did the agenda. It included political issues in 1974 and political leaders were invited. It became the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 1987.
2019
At Sundance, participants like Netflix began using their affluence to dominate the agenda. Robert Redford described these participants as “story tellers,” because “Society relies on story tellers, the choices they make, the risks they take, define our collective expressions.”
At Davos, the affluence and power of attendees drew even richer and more powerful participants like John Kerry and 300 others, arriving in their private jets to criticize humanity for driving gas-powered vehicles to grocery stores. The “story tellers” used their influence to create agendas, such as “Globalization 4.0,” or “countries coming together as one big global economy,” including a discussion, led by the CEO of the magazine that featured Donald Trump, dressed as a king, on its cover (TIME, June 7, 2018).
2025
At Sundance, January 23-February 2, Robert Redford’s announcement that “Audiences in 2025 can expect a program that showcases varied and vibrant filmmaking globally,” was supported by film critic Amy Nicholson, describing the films as “disconnection and rabbits’ rule.”
At Davos, From January 20-24,the President and CEO of WEF, Berge Brenda, and 3,000 participants, including 50 heads of state, had selected an agenda that featured such topics as “forging innovative partnerships and dialogue to enable investment in climate and clean technologies—and work towards achieving equitable, secure and sustainable energy systems,” and “If you want to talk about solutions for Planet Earth, we have the three that have been working for thousands of years – biodiversity, the ocean, and the knowledge of indigenous peoples.”
Yet during an interview on CNBC and Fox of Laurence Fink, Chairman of Blackrock, asset manager of $11.5 trillion with 30 offices spread across 30 countries and clients in 100 countries, said the moods could not be more different: bleak in Europe, and optimistic in the U.S.
Donald Trump’s actions, including his announcing a $500 billion Stargate Project to develop AI, had caused the participants to return to the reason the WEF was founded: focusing on how European firms could catch up with U.S. management policies.
European business leaders universally indicated a desire to take actions similar to those of Trump.
Trump’s Presentation
On Thursday, President Trump delivered, via ZOOM, a 30-minute presentation that included his saying that he intends to follow through on his “America First” campaign promises. “My message to every business in the world is very simple: Come make your product in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on Earth.”
He said diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives were “absolute nonsense.”
He said the European Union (EU) was not treating great American companies, such as Amazon, Google, Meta, and Apple, fairly, by fining them.
He said OPEC’s lowering oil prices world cause a drop in interest rates.
He said he was reducing regulations.
In contrast, Previously, Christine Lagarde, President of the European Bank, had said that Europeans needed to find a way to work together under the necessary regulations. However, France’s Minister for Industry and Energy, Marc Ferracci, said “the participants were arguing for less reporting and red tape.”
Trump responded to questions from several participants.
To Blackstone CEO Steve Schwartzman’s question about the regulatory situation in Europe, Trump replied that when he bought a golf course in Ireland, the Irish approved his plans in a week, but for other plans the EU was saying it would be five years before they considered them.
To the CEO of the Bank of America, Brian Moynihan, Trump said his bank, and other banks, had to stop discriminating against conservatives, which so threw Moynihan off balance that he simply murmured something about hosting the World Cup. Subsequently, the bank announced that they “would never close accounts for political reasons.”
Post Davos
On Friday, President Trump, after inspecting the destruction from the hurricane in North Carolina, and the fires in California, and listening to politicians describe their regulations, he demonstrated what he meant by “reducing regulations” by ordering troops on Monday to send water to L.A.
It appears that at Davos, 2025, Trump assumed the role of “storyteller” and that, in Redford’s words, “Society relies on storytellers. The choices they make, the risks they take, define our collective expressions.”
Re Water issue: Water will not reach Southern CA. It was a political stunt.
From NYT:
“ Trump administration officials began releasing significant amounts of water from two dams in California’s Central Valley on Friday in a move that seemed intended to make a political point as President Trump continued to falsely blame the Los Angeles wildfires on water policies in the Democratic-run state.
The releases, as ordered, have sent water toward low-lying land in the Central Valley, and none of it will reach Southern California, water experts said. Nonetheless, President Trump said on Friday that the same action would have prevented the Los Angeles wildfires on the other side of mountain ranges over which that water has no way of traveling.”
Thanks Brent for taking the secretive veil off of Davos. I wasn’t aware of the history there. Certainly, much of what goes on there is above the average person’s head. Interesting that Larry Fink and the other heavy hitters combined wealth is more than many countries entire economies. So in essence, between Davos and Park City, decisions made there controls the entire world. Got it, very sobering. Yes, the tiny country of Switzerland always seems to manage a seat at the table of world power. They managed to stay out of the atrocities of WW II and then financed the world and continue to do so, money laundering and all.
Bravo to Trump for telling the WEE….WTF! I loved watching the expressions on Klaus Schwab’s face as Trump was reading him the riot act. Talk about getting your ass handed to you by the boss in front of the entire world!