"A speech for the padded cell" How the audience reacted to Trump's speech in Davos
The world is hanging on Trump's every word, while he covers their leaders with untruths and accusations. The audience's reactions to his speech speak volumes.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- A packed auditorium allowed President Trump to take part in his 90-minute all-round attack.
- The audience reacted cautiously, nervously, in disbelief and some disillusioned.
- Some left the auditorium early.
You have to hand it to him: President Trump pulls. The exclusive crowd of people with an access badge for the Davos Congress Center waits an hour or more to get into the hall where the President will give his speech. Those who do not have a seat - or only have the badge for the Congress Center, but not for the plenary hall - take a seat in an adjoining room where the speech will be broadcast.
The World Leaders want to be there when Trump talks about what he has achieved and what the rest of the world is doing wrong. And they want to experience live how the President demands that a NATO member cede part of its territory to him.
Trump's 90-minute speech contains various untruths. He insults Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter and lets the European leaders in the room know that their continent is about to perish because of migration and left-wing economic policy, after the states have achieved prosperity at the expense of the USA.
Shaking heads and nervous laughter
It is interesting to see how the audience in the room reacts to these assertions, which very few of them are likely to share in such stark terms. The Business Insider reporter compares the atmosphere in the hall with that at Tump's appearances in the USA: the applause at the beginning was somewhat more modest, but there were no boos or other expressions of disapproval at the controversial statements. "The only sound in the hall was suppressed, nervous laughter. Are they [those present] laughing with him or at him?" The journalist guesses the latter.
Matthias Steimer was in the room as a video journalist - albeit without a camera - for CH Media. He summarizes his impressions for blue News as follows: "After everyone stood up and pulled out their cell phones when Trump appeared, the audience behaved cautiously during his speech. However, there were sighs, snorts and irritated laughter at sensitive points. One high-ranking Swiss politician shook her head vigorously several times. But Trump was also able to score some laughs, some of which were hearty, others rather submissive."
CNN also observed shaking heads and giggling as Trump presented his arguments as to why Greenland should be annexed to the USA. There is nervous laughter when Trump repeats his demonstrably false statement that China sells wind turbines en masse but does not operate a single wind farm itself.
Disbelief at Trump's all-round attack
When, after an hour of speaking time, the president came to talk about the National Guard deployments he had ordered in various US cities, the interest of the international audience had waned noticeably and some had left the room, CNN reports.
One of them is a top manager of a European company, writes Handelsblatt, quoting him without a name as saying that it was unbearable and that anyone else would end up in a padded cell for such a speech.
It was a similar story for a Swiss manager who watched the speech on screen and wrote to a journalist from the "Aargauer Zeitung" newspaper that she felt sick and had to switch off the broadcast.
Standing ovation or a stretch for photos?
Various media reported that Trump received a standing ovation from part of the audience at the end. One person who was there and regularly attends political speeches qualifies that it is customary for some of those present to stand up at the end to take photos. It is not clear whether those standing and clapping are enthusiastic about Trump or were just looking for a better position for their smartphones.
Matthias Steimer's conclusion: "Trump was received by the WEF audience like a showman who can sometimes be funny, but tends to be unpopular and always alienates again."
The "Aargauer Zeitung" describes how audience members looked at each other in disbelief as they left the hall. "It's just sad," said one manager. He keeps to himself what exactly he finds sad - the views of the most powerful man in the world, the fact that their decision-makers are still hanging on his every word or the consequences that Trump's impulses could have.