Karoline Leavitt wants you to believe that Donald Trump walked into the World Economic Forum and delivered a triumphant speech. Not only that, Trump’s speech left Europe inspired and eager to follow America’s lead. But her version of events does not survive contact with reality.
On Jan. 21, 2026, Trump addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It was a gathering of global political leaders, diplomats, economists, and corporate executives. Trump’s speech was meant to showcase his “America First” agenda on the world stage. Instead, it became one of the most widely mocked moments of the summit.
During the speech, Trump repeatedly discussed Greenland as a strategic U.S. interest, arguing that America needed to assert influence there to counter Russia and China. But while laying out this supposedly urgent geopolitical case, he referred to Greenland as “Iceland” multiple times. Not once. Not in passing. Repeatedly.
Trump’s speech at Davos was his most deranged one yet
Videos show Trump conflating the two countries while talking about Arctic security, alliances, and U.S. leverage. The confusion was so pronounced that it immediately became a global meme. And now we’re not sure whether the president really knows which territory he is trying to acquire.
This wasn’t a stray verbal slip. It was a sustained error in a speech centered on territorial ambition. Adding to the spectacle, Trump also claimed Switzerland should be grateful to the U.S., or it would be “speaking German.” Switzerland, for the record, already speaks German. Among other languages.
And Trump’s broader delivery didn’t help him either. It was full of slurred phrasing, rambling transitions, and a tone that oscillated between grievance and boastfulness. Every news channel described the speech as confusing, undisciplined, and embarrassing. Then came Karoline Leavitt.
Enter Karoline Leavitt to save her boss
Apparently, Leavitt’s task was to sell Trump’s performance as a triumph. She insisted the speech had received “rave reviews” and that world leaders were “very pleased” and “inspired” by Trump’s vision. But as one user on X said, “when a President gives the most embarrassing speech of his life, the only thing more embarrassing is Leavitt lying for him.”
Leavitt praised Trump’s comments on deregulation, energy policy, tax cuts, and his attacks on European climate policy and migration frameworks. “I was in the room,” she said, emphasizing that Trump had struck an “inspirational tone.” This was not the spin she usually gives to Trump’s statements. This was a full-scale narrative inversion. Or as a user called it, “This is like North Korean-level glazing.“
Because while Leavitt was praising inspiration, the actual reaction from Davos was disbelief, ridicule, and alarm. Everyone was focused almost entirely on Trump’s confusion between Greenland and Iceland. His geographic illiteracy and the surreal disconnect between his ambitions and his grasp of basic facts were embarrassing.
European leaders did not signal enthusiasm or echo his rhetoric and definitely did not announce policy shifts. If anything, the speech reinforced the growing perception that the U.S. under Trump is no longer speaking the same language, literally or diplomatically, as its allies. But Karoline Leavitt didn’t just defend the speech; she rebranded it. Confusion became candor, rambling became inspiration, and mockery became “rave reviews.”
This is not damage control. It’s blatant lying to substitute reality. As one user on X wrote, “She lies with the enthusiasm and charisma of a 1960s kitchen appliance TV ad.”
Published: Jan 23, 2026 08:25 am