Trump bulldozes the leftist nonsense of the last four years

By Conrad Black

Never in living memory — and probably not since the most tempestuous times of the Second World War when the world was dominated by such extraordinary personalities as Churchill, Roosevelt, de Gaulle, and in their way, Stalin and Hitler — has anyone had such an impact on the ambience of international relations and the prevailing trends in public policy as U.S. President Donald Trump has had, at time of writing, only 10 days into his second term. His appearance by video conference last week at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the dismal little Swiss town of Davos was an astonishing change from his appearance there five years ago. At that time, the only ripple of applause that he received was when he said that the United States would participate in the United Nations tree-planting program. The Euro-federalist elites looked upon him then, in emulation of the shellshocked bipartisan Washington political establishment, as a dangerous mountebank, an interloper, a dreadful meteor briefly altering the pink socialistic skies of an ”ever-closer Europe,” especially when viewed from one of the Spartan hotels of Davos.

Last week, the WEF audience listened politely as Trump expressed his affection for Europe and his desire for Europe and America to co-operate. There was not a groan or a smirk as he denounced excessive taxation and regulation, inadequate safeguards to assure constructive immigration, gullible attitudes towards countries that did not wish the West well and excessive state meddling in the free market. The uneasy silence prevailed even when Trump denounced “the Green New Deal (as) the Green New Scam,” and the “insane and costly electric vehicle mandate.” There was not a peep or a hint of implicit disapproval when he disparaged “discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion nonsense,” environmental regulation, social tinkering and the fixation on corporate governance. The audience was respectful, not because they had undergone the grace of conversion to the charms of Trump’s ineffable personality, or even because they recognize the proportions of his political triumph and the strength of his hold over public policy in the world’s most important country, but because most of them had an uncomfortable feeling that he was right, and had been right all along. And all were relieved that he returned (virtually) to Davos suffused with goodwill toward those who had mocked and dismissed him as a buffoon on his previous visit.

First published in the National Post