Trump at Davos
Plus: The Left targets the University of Austin and we expose DEI at the Small Business Administration.
The big news event this week is the World Economic Forum in Davos. The WEF is a moment when, every year, the world’s leaders descend upon a small Swiss skiing hamlet and hash out the global order—at least in theory.
With Donald Trump, things are a bit different. Rather than defer to the constellation of transnational institutions—WEF, NATO, WHO, the UN—Trump has attempted to disrupt them. Trump’s basic argument is that America is the largest financial backer of these institutions, and, therefore, should be able to dictate the terms. We pay for NATO. We are the largest financial backer of the UN. And, of course, the WEF itself is supported by American corporate interests. And yet, previous American presidents have mindlessly deferred to the tyrannical impulses of these institutions.
Trump approaches European freeloading with a New York real estate developer’s blunt vernacular, which is off-putting for many European leaders. But his point is important: we’re not going to subsidize institutions that do not advance our interests.
Trump’s skepticism is warranted. Ideally, we should have close relationships with Europe, but we should also insist that Europe be self-sustaining. Right now, they’re a dependent state acting as if they were independent.
While I don’t know what the relationship with Europe will look like in the long term, in the short term, Trump is certainly correct to shake up the status quo and demand that Europe carry its own weight. I hope the Europeans acknowledge that reality, get past their juvenile distaste for Trump’s style, and recognize they need to step up to preserve productive transatlantic ties.
What’s Happening at the University of Austin?
