The shock and resistance so apparent during United States president Donald Trump‘s first term can be summed up in one word as he roars back into the White House for his second: resignation.
Since his resounding win in November, which saw the newly-inaugurated US president win both the popular vote and Electoral College, as well as his Republican party taking both houses of Congress, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home has housed everyone from Democrat mayors and senators to Canada‘s outgoing prime minister – and fierce Trump critic – Justin Trudeau.
Building on this momentum last week, an emboldened Trump, joined by ideological partners like Argentina’s president Javier Milei, virtually outlined a grand vision for global business and state leaders attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos.
The Milei Movement
Day 3 of Davos opened with an address by Argentina’s self-proclaimed ‘anarcho-capitalist’ president. The speech – which condemned state intervention into markets and emphatically labelled “wokeism” as a cancer – appeared as an introductory salvo to the WEF’s evening primetime address from Trump.
Milei opened by recalling his address last year to Davos, noting that he stood ideologically “alone” when he told the audience “that they were headed for failure, that the West had gone astray, and that it needed to be redirected”. In 2025, Milei highlighted he no longer felt alone.
Events over the past year show the Argentine president may not be wrong. The election of Donald Trump in the US is not separate from similar momentum in Europe. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán government remains strong, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni has gained acceptance from European leaders (noticeably after pledging support to Ukraine), and right-wing parties like Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom in the Netherlands and Germany’s Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) continue to rise in popularity.
Milei listed in his Davos speech the common subjects that have fuelled the rise of these right-wing leaders – transgenderism, abortion, and socialism. He, like many others, labels this ideology as “wokeism”.
In policy, Milei’s anti-woke legislation mirrors standard right-wing policies: cuts to social services, banking deregulation, and anti-abortion laws. Though the poverty rate in Argentina has increased, inflation has cooled and even the mainstream media-friendly outlets like the New York Times, historically hostile to leaders like Milei (and of course Trump), note the Argentine president’s approval remains high.
The Donald at Davos
Fresh from signing a flurry of executive orders, Trump virtually addressed the Davos audience at 18:00 CET on Day 3.
Much like Milei, Trump decried transgenderism (noting his recent executive order mandating the recognition of only ‘two genders’) and threatened tariffs on companies that fail to relocate operations to the US. He also promised tax cuts for businesses that do.
Trump also touted another pro-business initiative: investments in cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence.
On cryptocurrency, he highlighted a new executive order focused on deregulating the industry, including plans for a “national digital asset stockpile”. The Bitcoin reserve, he explained, would function similarly to US gold reserves and bolster dollar-backed stablecoins globally to “strengthen the US dollar”.
On AI, Trump promoted “Stargate“, an AI-powered initiative led by Japan’s SoftBank, Larry Ellison’s Oracle, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman. However, Elon Musk – leader of the administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – has criticised the initiative, reportedly fearing its impact on his own AI investments.
As if prepared for a question about the well-documented impact on the environment of both emerging technologies, Trump highlighted two recent moves “terminating” the Green New Deal: withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords and ending the Biden administration’s electric vehicle mandate.
Europe on bended knee
Europe’s leaders, often uncomfortable with Trump’s brashness, seemed more receptive this year at Davos.
The message of deregulation inspired centrist figures like EU Commission president Urusula von der Leyen and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi to “cut red tape” to keep the Continent competitive amongst global economies.
Talk of tariffs against European countries, which has evoked an outcry by both business and consumers, was met with “cautious optimism” by the World Trade Organization (a historic target of Trump) in hopes the new president simply wanted to make a deal.
Possible opportunity
Trump did not shy away from promising negotiations for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia. In his words, “it’s time to end” what has become a “killing field”.
Where was such policy articulation – and condemnation about the bloodshed – in the Biden administration about the Ukraine-Russia war?
Trump also discussed his post-election call with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Q&A session after his address: “We’re going to have a very good relationship. All we want is fairness. We just want a level playing field. We don’t want to take advantage. We’ve been having massive deficits with China.”
Remember one of Biden’s last comments on Xi was that he was a “dictator“.
And the last administration’s policy towards Israel’s invasion of Gaza requires only this brief mention to inspire a moment of solemn reflection.
The danger of Trump is obvious. Yet given momentum in the US, Europe and elsewhere, it’s clear he and his fellow ideologues cannot be ignored. Europeans, and all populations who follow our principles at DiEM25, must tell their leaders two things: abandon the current interventionist policy and, instead, force these right-wingers to follow through on the anti-war initiatives, in Ukraine-Russia, Palestine, and elsewhere, they claim to want.
And two, take advantage of this time of disruption by articulating a new vision for the world – which is certainly what leaders like Trump, Milei, and others have done – to combat this time of fake populism that hides typical right-wing ideology.
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