June 26, 1963. “Ich bin ein Berliner” are the immortal words spoken on the western side of Berlin by American President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. “I am a Berliner”proclaimed JFK from the balcony of the administrative building in Schöneberg, crying out against the wall that the Soviet Union (USSR) had built two years ago. January 21, 2026. “Without us, right now you’d all be speaking German,” is one of the phrases in the speech by the American president (Switzerland). “If it weren’t for us, you would all be speaking German now.”Trump said, adding “a little bit of Japanese.”
The context of the words is vital, there is no longer a wall in Berlin, but The Trump Administration has been attacking Old Europe for a year to which, after endless threats of tariffs that come and go depending on the moment. And with the renewed threat of, yes, since yesterday without the threat of military intervention against NATO partners – and with the markets much calmer, of course.
But Trump probably thought that phrase was worthy of the epic from the well-known series where the role of the US Army in World War II is captured. But one detail returned a Trump to the field of comedymore typical of a gag of one sitcom North American.
Trump’s gaffe in his Davos speech
What detail? That perhaps he should have informed himself a little about the characteristics of European countries such as the one hosting the largest economic meeting on a global scale. Davos It is a Swiss city, but it is located in one swiss canton very specific of the 26 existing ones, the one in Graubünden.
It is the largest canton in all of Switzerland, where – oh, surprise – there are many co-official languages and one of those official languages is German. In fact, it is the only one in which this is co-official with the Romansh and the Italian. However, the German language is the majority in cities like Davos, where the volume of german speakers is from 149.471 personashe 74,7% of the populationin data corresponding to 2020.
