Trump Cancels Trip To Davos

[Swordsmyth]

With the partial government shutdown set to break a record and become the longest in US history over the weekend, President Trump has decided that he won't be making a return appearance to the World Economic Forum in Davos this year.
Because of the "great importance of Safety for our Nation, I am respectfully cancelling my very important trip to Davos," Trump said.


Though Trump won't be attending, other senior administration officials, most notably Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, are still planning on going even if the shutdown standoff drags on.
Trump said during an interview earlier on Thursday before departing for Texas that he would likely still be traveling to Davos for the annual conference of the world's political and financial elite, though he said that if the shutdown were to continue, he wouldn't go.

"I intended to go and speak in front of the international community in Davos. That's still on, but if the shutdown continues - it's a little while from now - but if the shutdown continues, I won't go," Trump said.
By canceling the trip, Trump is in effect signaling that he expects that the shutdown could drag on - possibly for a few more weeks. The conference isn't slated to start until Jan. 22.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-10/trump-cancels-trip-davos-shutdown-drags

[jkr]

!

NOT ELITE?

[Zippyjuan]

Trump said he would not leave the White House while the shutdown is going on. But he flew to Iraq over Christmas and is down in Texas today.

He didn't go to Davos in 2017.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-13/trump-team-shunning-davos-gathering-of-world-s-economic-elite


Trump Team Shunning Davos Meeting of World’s Economic Elite


President-elect said to view attending as betrayal of populism

Newly-named adviser Scaramucci on the agenda at Swiss forum



Most presidents don't go personally. Trump did go last year- which was the first time a US president attended since Clinton in 2000.

https://www.vox.com/world/2018/1/22/16910172/trump-davos-2017-globalist-elite-world-economic-forum


Technically, the conference is supposed to bring people together for speeches and panel discussions woven together by one overarching theme for that year’s gathering. But the real function of Davos — and the reason it’s so often disdained by the people who would never be invited to it — is that it allows elites to network and collaborate on deals with incredible speed and little public input.

Davos is a unique kind of hell for a nationalist. It’s a place where elites go to hobnob and quietly come up with ways to make the world more tightly economically integrated. Some of the discussions also have a humanitarian dimension (although often more gloss than substance) that doesn’t suit the worldview of advocates for making foreign policy more introverted. Ultimately, it’s one of the purest expressions of a “globalist” worldview, to use the term popularized by the alt-right and nationalist conservatives.

And that’s why the news that Trump was coming to the party was so unexpected.


Even more puzzling is the fact that attending Davos isn’t something US presidents typically do. This will be the first time a sitting US president will attend the Alpine retreat since Bill Clinton did so in 2000. George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama never attended while in office. So this isn’t an instance of Trump fulfilling obligations that grate against his personal instincts — it’s a deliberate, and undeniably politicized, decision.

Some see Trump’s attendance as a sign that with Bannon gone, Trump is no longer the fierce anti-globalization populist he was on the campaign trail and during his first several months in office.

But analysts say there’s another possible explanation for his decision to attend: that Trump wants to confront the elites who despise him on their own turf. “It’s like going into the belly of the beast and laying out his alternative vision of the world,” Michael Froman, who served as US trade representative under Obama and has attended Davos in the past, told me. “I wouldn’t expect him to alter his message or pull his punches when it comes to America First.”