At Davos on 22 January 2026, Elon Musk mocked Donald Trump’s new “Board of Peace” by spelling “p-i-e-c-e,” joking about taking “a little piece of Greenland, a little piece of Venezuela,” turning global tension into an entertaining sentence.
The joke landed with the sharpness that only global conferences can produce. A room filled with executives, officials and advisers, all listening to a billionaire riff on the language of diplomacy. This was not policy. It was performance.
Davos is often sold as a place where serious people tackle serious problems. Yet its stage rewards a different skill: the ability to turn global tension into an entertaining sentence.
Peace as Branding
Trump’s “Board of Peace” is the kind of name that sounds designed for headlines. It is short, moral and difficult to oppose without sounding cynical. That makes it powerful, even before it does anything. Musk treated it accordingly, taking the word “peace” and turning it into “piece.”
During his interview with World Economic Forum interim co-chair Larry Fink, Musk said: “I heard about the formation of the peace summit, and I was like, is that p-i-e-c-e? You know, a little piece of Greenland, a little piece of Venezuela.” He added, “All we want is peace,” drawing subdued laughter from the audience.
The remark worked because it suggested something many people already suspect: that lofty language can mask crude ambition.
The Billionaire Commentariat
The deeper discomfort is not the pun itself.
It is how easily a private figure can frame global politics in a single joke, and how quickly media systems carry that framing outward. In older models, diplomacy was slow and guarded. Davos replaces that with an attention economy, where influence travels through quotes designed to be reposted.
Euronews reported that Musk’s joke prompted “quiet chuckles” from parts of the audience, though observers described the moment as awkward. The response is telling. It suggests the room understood the implications, even if it did not know how to respond.
Comedy With Imperial Shadows
There is also a darker layer.
“Taking pieces” of other places has never been merely theoretical. Greenland and Venezuela are not props, even when they become punchlines. Musk’s joke sounded modern, yet it echoed older habits of great powers treating territory as a negotiable asset.
Trump announced the Board of Peace on 22 January as an international organisation designed to promote stability and restore lawful governance in conflict zones. It was initially proposed to oversee Gaza reconstruction, though its charter does not limit scope to Palestine. Trump chairs the board, inviting dozens of countries to join, suggesting it could operate alongside or even replace the United Nations.
Performance Over Policy
Musk’s appearance at Davos comes at a time of shifting dynamics. He supported Trump with over $230 million during the 2025 election campaign as the largest single donor. He headed the Department of Government Efficiency until May 2025, when his status as “special government employee” expired.
Observers describe the relationship as a “fragile truce” or distrustful alliance of convenience. Both know how much they can damage each other politically and in the media. Yet Musk has signalled willingness to mobilise massive amounts of money for Republican candidates ahead of the November 2026 mid-term elections.
Davos thrives on the idea that everything can be managed. Yet this moment showed how quickly “management” turns into theatre, and how thin the line is between a peace proposal and a branding exercise.
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