Lessons from Davos

TIO Public Square

Lessons from Davos

by Robert P. Sellers

It is generally agreed that persons in leadership also function as either good or bad role models. The ways they carry out responsibilities, exercise power, demonstrate wise judgment, listen as well as speak, and serve constituents become teaching moments, especially for the young.

Traditionally, the President of the United States has been an indisputable role model, because of the prominence, visibility, inspiration and admiration of the office. So common is the understanding of the president as a moral example that when one searches the Internet for “the president as a role model,” central aspects of presidential influence immediately appear:

  • Moral and Ethical Leader: Historically, the President was expected to be a "number one citizen" demonstrating decency, respect, and morality. A president's character is seen as fundamental, influencing [his] response to crises.

  • Influence on Youth: As highly visible public figures, presidents significantly shape the attitudes, values, and ambitions of young people. Positive leadership can inspire, while misconduct can normalize negative behaviors like bullying.

  • Symbol of National Unity: The President is expected to represent all Americans, bridging divides, and fostering a sense of community.

Jim Jones, former Attorney General of Idaho and a longtime justice on the state’s Supreme Court, expressed his opinion in a column for the Idaho State Journal. On February 14, 2020, he commented on the impact of a president’s behavior:

As we observe Presidents’ Day this year, it is well to consider the critical role our presidents play in shaping the attitudes and ambitions of America’s young people. Being the most conspicuous public figures of their time, presidents can have a tremendous influence on the future lives of contemporaneous youngsters. It can be for better or for worse.

Jones admitted that President Kennedy changed his life. Although not a Democrat, when he was in college studying to become a civil engineer, the president famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Jones was so challenged he switched majors to study political science and earned a commission in the army. After law school, he volunteered to serve in Vietnam as an artillery officer, then entered politics in his home state [Ibid.].

So, what do Americans – especially the young – learn from President Donald Trump’s behavior in Davos at the World Economic Forum? What kind of role model was he? Which lessons about engaging others in the Public Square did Trump teach us as he met with world leaders in Switzerland?

1. Don’t join others as if everyone is expectantly awaiting your participation.

Faisal Islam, economics editor for the BBC, called Trump the “would-be sheriff of the world” who arrived in the Alps amid “high security, high stakes and high tension,” eager to brandish new rules he assumed everyone would follow. As the BBC editor reports, “there was an astonishing scrum to try to get in, with many turned away, even heads of state. The security was unbelievable, not letting even some of the most famous attendees in or out of the hall.”

Crowds and cameras accompany any president in public, but one can assume many presidents grow tired of the constant hoorah. Trump is accustomed to great fanfare upon his arrival anywhere. What he may not recognize, however, is that the applause and flash photography celebrate the office he holds, and not necessarily himself.

Whenever we come to a venue as a teacher or speaker, let us not arrive assuming we are the most important person in the group. An arrogant demeanor can detract from, even cancel, what we say. As we engage others in the Public Square – whether at the office, social club, school, church or neighborhood cookout – we must realize our opinion may be one of several different perspectives in the room, each potentially valuable.

2. Don’t drone on incessantly as if you are the only one with something worth saying.

In a speech lasting more than an hour, Trump disappointed but didn’t surprise. The New Republic summarized:

President Trump delivered yet another rambling, long-winded speech Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, using the massive world stage to rail against windmills, complain for the umpteenth time about how the 2020 election was rigged, reaffirm his desire to seize Greenland from Denmark, and take credit for every good thing in the world. The room was dead silent virtually the entire time [Malcolm Ferguson, “Trump embarrasses all of America in slurred, disjointed Davos speech.”

There were nervous looks when Trump began talking about Greenland, which he repeatedly called Iceland. Some delegates chuckled at a few points in the speech – though it wasn’t clear if they were laughing with Trump or at him. As the speech predictably became a recitation of Trump’s laundry list of accomplishments, people began looking at their watches and some left the room. Finally, well beyond the allotted time for his speech, Trump offered an inane, unpresidential closing, “I’ll see you around” [Ibid.].

In our own Public Squares, we must not use more than our share of the available time, unless we are the invited guest speaker. Even in that case, we should not speak too long. Doing otherwise is disrespectful of other people’s time and schedules, and by doing so, we risk being judged for our arrogance rather than our ideas.

3. Don’t offend others with opposing views like you are playing a zero-sum game.

Trump insulted many of the people in the room and their countries, even though they were America’s allies. He claimed that if it weren’t for the United States, everyone in the hall “would be speaking German” – yet he was in the German-speaking region of Switzerland where almost everybody does speak German. He insulted Greenlanders by calling their home “a piece of ice”. He criticized the speech of Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney – which had received a standing ovation – and insisted that Canada needs the USA, but the US does not need Canada or anything from Canadians [Faisel Islam, BBC, Ibid.].

It is clear that Trump was playing a political game. Philosophers define game theory as, “the theory of the structure of, and the rational strategies for performing in, games or game-like human interactions.” Such games are divided into two types – constant sum games and variable sum games. In constant sum games, the payoff for each player, regardless of who wins, is constant. A “zero-sum game” is a special type of constant sum game in which two participants are opponents in competition or conflict, each trying to earn the same reward; only one can win while the other loses. There are no shared victories or compromises. That is how Donald Trump approaches negotiations or political games. If he wins Greenland, then Denmark must lose, so he diminishes and discounts his opponents to be victorious.

However, when we engage with others in the Public Square, we should listen, search for paths to common benefit, consider the possibility of compromising, and not demand our own priorities as the only way. Let us not resort to name-calling, shaming, or belittling those with opinions different from our own.

4. Don’t use threats to get your way even if that’s better than actually fighting.

The Nation – the oldest continuously-published weekly magazine in the United States and a leading progressive commentary on social justice, environmentalism, and civil rights – published “At Davos, the World watched the Rantings of a Despot.” Journalist Sasha Abramsky wrote:

One year into Trump 2.0, a predatory, imperialist, and increasingly deranged President Trump, has, with his demands that Denmark cede Greenland to the United States, precipitated the most serious rupture of the Western Alliance since the Suez crisis in 1956, when the United States squared off against the United Kingdom, France, and Israel over the future of the canal.

While it is true Trump said he wouldn’t use force to take the Danish territory, he did try to manipulate and control the situation. He reversed his earlier threats, which critics like Gavin Newsom call his acting TACO, or “Trump always chickens out.” He said Denmark was ungrateful because they did not give Greenland to the U.S. after WWII; but he also said that if he did decide to use force, there was nothing anyone could do to stop the U.S. military. As a lifelong bully, Trump acts like a Mafia boss. Like Don Corleone, he feels he is making an offer Denmark can’t refuse.

We ought never enter the Public Square ready to fight. Nor should we insinuate that we might fight if we don’t get our own way. When others disagree, the one who turns on his heel and leaves the discussion in a huff is no different than the child who takes his ball and shuts down the game because he is not automatically chosen as the team captain.

5. Don’t lie to support your arguments because others will learn to doubt whatever you say.

Trump’s speech at Davos, like his other public addresses, contained numerous contested claims and outright falsehoods. The BBC fact-checked the president’s speech. Among Trump’s many innuendos, misrepresentations and lies are these corrected assertions:

  • The US did not “give Greenland back” after WWII because it was never our possession to return to Denmark. 

  • The US is not paying for “virtually 100%” of Nato’s defense, but around 62%. 

  • The US has not received “nothing back from Nato,” because after 9/11 it became the only Nato country to implement Article 5 – obligating every Nato country to aid any Nato country under attack – which required other Nato countries to send troops to aid America’s war against terror. 

  • China does not have “zero wind farms,” but it generates more wind energy than any other country. 

  • The UK does not “take 92% of North Sea oil revenue,” but only 78% of the profits from their own offshore project. 

Trump is a pathological liar, according to many observers, including psychiatrists and ethicists. Fred Wertheimer, American attorney and activist, wrote in Democracy21.org about “Donald Trump and his cult of liars.” He said: 

It’s no secret that … President Donald Trump is a habitual liar. His nonstop lies – about stolen elections, COVID-19, immigrants, and, most recently, the government’s response to hurricanes – have contributed to the enormous divisions in the country, incited violence, cost lives, and threatened our democracy.

According to The Washington Post, Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims during his first presidential term. His second term is no different. His penchant for lying can be compared with an observation by our third president, Thomas Jefferson, who said in 1785: “There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible, and he who permits himself to tell a lie once finds it much easier to do a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him” [Ibid.].

When we enter the Public Square, we must not depend upon lies to make our case. Persons with other views may either immediately recognize our exaggerations, half-truths and blatant lies or will judge and disregard them later. We do others and ourselves serious harm when we do not tell the truth. Furthermore, as persons of faith – followers of any faith tradition – we need to be known as truth-tellers.

Conclusion

There is perhaps no public figure more often watched or heard than the US President. Viewed as the most powerful person in the world, Donald Trump has enormous influence. While he may not admit it, he is modeling bad behavior to a generation of children who in their young lives have never known an honest president.

All of us, however, often enter public spaces. We will likely never become the president of the United States, but we still have the opportunity to influence others by what we say and how we act. As we engage others in the Public Square, let us carefully choose someone to emulate who is respected as a positive role model.