Meanwhile in Davos: A ‘watershed moment’?

NEWS AND OPINION:

The World Economic Forum continues through Thursday in Davos, Switzerland, drawing a cross section of high-profile folk who range from Al Gore, John Kerry and Bill Gates to 50 heads of state and an astronaut circling Earth aboard the International Space Station.

“The future is not just happening. The future is built by us, by a powerful community as you here in this room. We have the means to improve the state of the world. But two conditions are necessary. The first one is that we act all as stakeholders of larger communities, that we serve not only self-interest but we serve the community. That’s what we call stakeholder responsibility. And second, that we collaborate,” Klaus Schwab, executive chair of the World Economic Forum, told the jumbo-sized gathering.

“The fact that nearly 2,500 leaders come together in person demonstrates the need for a trusted, informal and action-oriented global platform to confront the issues in a crisis-driven world,” Mr. Schwab noted.

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Details about the event itself can be found at Weforum.org — and it is described by organizers as an “extraordinary event taking place at a watershed moment in history.”

Yes, well. Others don’t appear to see it that way.

“This is the call to action for elitists the world over. They appoint themselves the representatives of global interests — without elections, without accountability — and then create mechanisms of national and international order to control citizens over whom they claim to preside,” countered Ben Shapiro, talk-radio host and syndicated columnist, in an essay published Wednesday.

“One of the great ironies of the past several years is the gap between the elitists’ perception of themselves. To the elitists, their solutions failed because citizens of the world lacked the will to listen to them; to the citizens, the elitists failed because their prescriptions were ill-founded. Yet so long as the elitists retain their power, they will continue to push forward their utopian dreams at the expense of those they purport to serve,” Mr. Shapiro later concluded.

KATKO HAS A SAY

One Republican lawmaker has drawn a striking conclusion about a hidden danger.

The reported assassination plot against former President George W. Bush is “precisely” what President Biden’s border policies were risking, Rep. John Katko told Fox News on Wednesday.

“This is precisely the concern we had with the open border policies of the Biden administration. For the first year or so, we were fighting with them tooth and nail to try and get information about the number of terrorists that were coming across the border who were on the terror watch list,” said the New York Republican, who is the ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

“They wouldn’t give it to us. They finally gave it to us, and now we know there’s a plot to assassinate a former president, and it was going to be carried out by smuggling people across the southern border.”

“For them to say that the southern border is not a national security issue is laughable,” Mr. Katko said, noting that people from over 160 countries have attempted to cross the border, and 24 people were seized from the FBI’s terrorist watch list.

“This does not bode well for the security of our country, and I shudder to think of who’s gotten through, and what we don’t know about,” the lawmaker said.

WHEN IS THE JEN SHOW?

For those who wonder, former White House press secretary Jen Psaki will begin appearing on MSNBC this fall to host her own original program — currently under development for Peacock, the network’s streaming platform.

“The program, set to debut in the first quarter of 2023, will bring together her unique perspective from behind the podium and her deep experience in the highest levels of government and presidential politics to MSNBC viewers. Psaki will also appear on NBC and during MSNBC’s primetime special election programming throughout the midterms and 2024 presidential election,” the network said in a press release Wednesday.

Along with her 16-month stint in the White House, Ms. Psaki previously served as the communications director for former President Obama, as a State Department spokesperson, as an adviser to John Kerry’s and Mr. Obama’s presidential campaigns, and as a key member of the Biden-Harris transition team.

“She’s a familiar face and trusted authority to MSNBC viewers, and we look forward to her insight during this consequential election season,” MSNBC President Rashida Jones said in a statement.

FOXIFIED

During the week of May 16-22, Fox News drew more viewers than any other network in the entire cable TV realm with an average primetime audience of 2.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Fox News also had a larger audience than both CNN (597,000 viewers) and MSNBC (910,000) combined for the 45th consecutive week.

“Tucker Carlson Tonight” was the standout program of the week, with a 3.2 million-member average nightly audience.

The weekend belonged to “Unfiltered with Dan Bongino,” which drew 1.4 million viewers, and “Sunday Morning Futures” with 1.7 million.

In the media-analysis battle, Howard Kurtz and “MediaBuzz” enjoyed an audience of 1.4 million viewers, and continued to trump CNN’s “Reliable Sources” with Brian Stelter, which had an audience of 646,000.

POLL DU JOUR

• 39% of U.S. adults expect that Republicans will win the majority in the U.S. Senate in the midterm elections this year; 75% of Republicans, 38% of independents and 18% of Democrats agree.

• 18% overall expect the Democrats to win a majority in the Senate; 3% of Republicans, 12% of independents and 41% of Democrats agree.

• 15% overall say the Senate will remain evenly divided between the two parties; 4% of Republicans, 18% of independents and 20% of Democrats agree.

• 28% overall are not sure who will win the majority; 17% of Republicans, 32% of independents and 22% of Democrats agree.

SOURCE: An Economist/YouGov poll of 1,500 U.S. adults conducted May 21-24.

• Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.