Neill Ferguson: Trump Won Davos

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There is a rapidly forming narrative in the European and liberal media that the Europeans “won Davos”: primarily by getting Trump to “de-escalate” his demand that the United States acquire Greenland from Denmark. This is a very wrong take. The reality is that Trump won Davos, hands down. And not only did he win it; he owned it. I have never before seen a single individual so completely dominate this vast bazaar of the powerful, the wealthy, the famous, and the self-important.

Trump never seriously meant to annex Greenland or to impose new tariffs on the Europeans. Why would he when the U.S. already enjoys all the military access to the frigid island it could ever possibly need? Fact: Trump means what he says on Truth Social only about half the time.

Ten years ago, Europeans made the mistake of taking Trump neither seriously nor literally. Now they make the opposite mistake of treating him both seriously and literally.

The reason Trump forced Greenland to be the No. 1 topic at Davos was to keep European leaders from meddling in America’s Middle Eastern and Eastern European policy.

Why might Trump prefer the Europeans to be talking about Greenland instead of Iran or Ukraine? Because Europe would be bound to make its usual pleas for “de-escalation” with respect to Tehran. And because the Americans think it was the EU and UK who last year impeded progress toward a peace deal for Ukraine.

Of course, this goes wholly counter to the Davos consensus, which is that wicked Trump has torn up the sacred liberal international order. But, as I never grow tired of reminding you, the Davos consensus is always wrong. Always.

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