One of President Trump’s most loyal goons proved so unpopular at a VIP dinner in Davos that people walked out as he spoke and a former vice president booed him, according to fellow attendees.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was berated by high-profile diners at the event in the Swiss mountain town, according to the Financial Times, which reported that people walked out of the awkward meal after “widespread jeering.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, was one of the people who bolted for the door as Lutnick launched into a diatribe about what he described as the continent’s declining influence and energy policies that he had earlier complained were reliant on China. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore was named as one of the figures in the crowd who heckled him.
Lutnick was last in a line of speakers at the invite-only dinner hosted by BlackRock’s Larry Fink, boss of the world’s largest asset manager and interim co-chair of the World Economic Forum. Fink reportedly appealed for calm as the confab went off the rails.
The Journal cited insiders who said there was a smattering of applause for some of Lutnick’s remarks, but on the whole, they created a dismal atmosphere. A spokesperson for Lutnick claimed there was no walk-out and that the commerce secretary only spoke for three minutes. The Daily Beast has asked for more information.
The reception came after a Lutnick op-ed published earlier in the day rankled allies at an already tense moment in U.S.-E.U. relations amid President Trump’s push to seize Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally.
In the piece for the FT, Lutnick came across as unapologetic and combative. “We’re not going to Davos to uphold the status quo. We’re going to confront it head-on,” he blustered, invoking Trump’s own terse rhetoric. He also wrote: “We are here at Davos to make one thing crystal clear: With President Trump, capitalism has a new sheriff in town.”
“For far too long, the fate of the global economy has been decided by an international establishment who took America’s economic power and gave it to the rest of the world,” he moaned.
On Tuesday, Trump amplified a post on Truth Social that suggested that NATO, not Russia or China, is the main enemy of the U.S. The president arrived in Davos on Wednesday and was expected to hash out his grievances in a keynote speech, barely 24 hours after a rambling press conference at the White House.
Trump also spoke to reporters before jetting off to Switzerland. He was asked if he would bring up the topic of Greenland. “You’ll find out,” he teased.
French President Emmanuel Macron has led the charge against Trump’s rhetoric. He took the stage at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday sporting Top Gun-style sunglasses and delivered a sharp rebuke.
“Let’s not be divided, let’s not accept the global order which will be decided by those who claim to have the bigger voice, or the bigger teeth, or the bigger… I don’t know,” Macron, 48, said.
“Let’s be coordinated. Let’s not waste time with crazy ideas.”
Macron also took a swipe at the “bullies” on the world stage. “We do prefer respect to bullies. We do prefer science to politicism. And we prefer the rule of law to brutality,” he said.
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