Davos, Switzerland — As global elites gathered this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the mood was tense, unsettled, and unusually candid. The annual meeting, long criticized as a polite ritual of elite consensus-building, instead became something closer to a collective intervention: a forum where world leaders, executives, and policymakers struggled to respond to an American president who has once again placed the global economic and security order under strain.

President Trump, preparing to arrive in Davos himself, dominated the discussions even before setting foot in Switzerland. His renewed threats of sweeping tariffs against allies, coupled with repeated rhetoric suggesting U.S. control over Greenland — a Danish territory and NATO ally — cast a long shadow over the proceedings. The result was a rare spectacle: European leaders, Canadian officials, and U.S. political figures openly warning that the rules-based international order is no longer merely eroding, but actively being weaponized.

Late at night, President Trump published what he described as a private message from French President Emmanuel Macron on Truth Social. In it, Macron expressed alignment with Trump on Syria and Iran but questioned his posture on Greenland, proposing diplomatic talks, a G7 meeting, and even a dinner in Paris. Trump’s decision to publicize the exchange appeared intended to signal personal leverage — proof, in his telling, that world leaders still sought his favor.

To many diplomats and analysts, however, the post reinforced a different concern: that even private channels of diplomacy are now vulnerable to domestic political theater. Several European officials privately described the episode as chilling, noting that it could discourage frank communication at precisely the moment it is most needed.