U.S. President Donald Trump spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, and the speech was awkward at best.
It all began even before Trump arrived at the venue, with the president walking the red carpet in a crooked, uneven line.
Once he began speaking, his comments soon became the focus of attention and confusion among viewers.
Highlights
- Trump’s Davos speech featured multiple factual errors, including confusing Greenland with Iceland and wrongly claiming WWI ended due to the Spanish flu.
- Trump claimed Switzerland is 'only good because of us,' drawing criticism during his speech in the country.
- He called windmills 'losers' and criticized green initiatives.
- California's Governor Gavin Newsom labeled Trump’s speech 'remarkably boring' and 'remarkably insignificant' with jaw-dropping falsehoods.
Trump’s speech in Davos was awkward, to say the least
Image credits: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
During the speech, Trump told the audience that people in Switzerland would “be speaking German” if the United States had not intervened during World War II.
German is the most widely spoken of Switzerland’s four official languages. He also confused Greenland with Iceland multiple times, and it’s not his first time making this error.
He said that Greenland was a part of North America, citing, “This enormous unsecured island is actually part of North America. That’s our territory.”
When journalists questioned the mistake, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded online by saying Trump had not said “Iceland,” despite video showing otherwise.
Another reporter interpreted the defense as an explanation that appeared to suggest Trump meant to say “ice land.”
At one point, Trump struggled to pronounce the word “Azerbaijan,” calling it “Abba-baijan,” pausing and restarting before moving on.
Trump also made several historically incorrect claims during the speech. He stated that World War I ended because of the Spanish flu, a claim that historians widely dispute.
At another moment, Trump brought up his nickname given to him by Mark Rutte, “Daddy.”
“Until the last few days, when I told them [NATO] about Iceland [sic], they loved me. They called me daddy, right? Very smart man said, ‘He’s our daddy.’ I was, like, running it. I went from running it to being a terrible human being.”
Trump also said, while in Switzerland, that the country was “only good because of us.”
“And I know so many people from Switzerland. Incredible place, incredible brilliant place. But I then realized that they’re only good because of us,” he said.
While speaking in Switzerland, Trump claimed the country was only ‘good’ because of the U.S.
The president repeated his claim that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was rigged, despite courts and election officials rejecting those claims.
He went on to make several other unfounded claims, including that grocery prices, energy costs, airfares, mortgage rates, rents, and car payments were all down.
He later criticized green initiatives and called windmills “losers.”
“There are windmills all over Europe. There are windmills all over the place. And they are losers.”
Image credits: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“One thing I’ve noticed is that the more windmills a country has, the more money that country loses, and the worse that country is doing,” Trump said.
He also claimed that he would have beaten Abraham Lincoln and George Washington if it weren’t for the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was with the two best pollsters, McLaughlin & Fabrizio, and they said, ‘Sir, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, if they came back and ran as president and VP, they couldn’t beat you,’” Trump said.
“And then the following day I was told to stay tuned because there's something really bad happening in China,” he said, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic.
CNN’s Kaitlin Collins spoke with Governor Gavin Newsom of California after the speech, only for him to call it “remarkably boring” and “remarkably insignificant.”
“None of this is normal,” Newsom, who also slammed Trump during a Q&A session on Thursday, said. “There’s a normalization of deviancy and consciousness and comments and commentary.
“He’s held to the curve, he’s graded on a curve. It’s really some jaw-dropping and remarkable statements that just fly in the face of facts and evidence and common sense.”