After nearly blowing up more than 80 years of friendship with America’s closest allies by threatening tariffs against them in a fit of pique over his desire to “acquire” Greenland, President Donald Trump closed out his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos this week by trying to replace the United Nations with something more like his Florida social club — membership dues included.
At a signing ceremony emcee’d by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and featuring stagecraft reminiscent of the television reality show that cemented Trump as a pop culture figure years before he mounted his first campaign for the presidency, Trump and a ragtag group of autocrats, representatives of Middle East monarchies, and other leaders from a group of seemingly random nations seeking his favor — plus ex-British prime minister Tony Blair — inked documents launching the “Board of Peace” that had been teased since he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a U.S.-brokered deal for a ceasefire in Israel’s two-year-old war against Hamas in Gaza.
