In the immortal words of JPMorgan C.E.O. Jamie Dimon, the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, is “where billionaires tell millionaires what the middle class feels.” By day, chauffeured Audis whisk attendees between meetings where rank is denoted by the color of one’s badge, and by night parties feature priceless bottles of champagne, fresh flower leis, and models flown in for the occasion. In addition to heads of state and policymakers, regular attendees over the years have included Dimon, as well as fellow bank C.E.O.s Lloyd Blankfein, Tidjane Thiam, and Brian Moynihan; private-equity chiefs David Rubenstein and Stephen Schwarzman; and hedge-fund managers Ray Dalio, Dan Loeb, and George Soros. This year’s theme is “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World,” with speakers expected to “make a case for renewed commitment to international collaboration as a way of solving critical global challenges.” Notably, there is no KFC in town. So it came as something of a surprise to hear on Tuesday that Donald Trump will attend the event.

The choice is shock not just because sitting U.S. presidents rarely make appearances in the Swiss village, but because the former beauty-pageant owner spent the whole of his campaign and first year in office railing against globalism and advocating “America First” policies (Or as Joseph Stiglitz put it, calling “for American selfishness.”) Davos, Ian Bremmer, told me, is “not Trump’s constituency. Internationally, he’s very unpopular,” Bremmer added, noting that Trump, who has pulled out of the Paris climate accord and UNESCO and is reportedly mulling an imminent trade war with China, is “antithetical” to the usual Davos crowd of devoted globalists. So why is he going?

Felix Salmon theorizes that it’s because the event will have a little something for everyone: a chance for the administration’s so-called “globalist cucks” like Gary Cohn and Steve Mnuchin to meet with like-minded individuals, and an opportunity for people like Stephen Miller, who would happily deface the inscription on the Statue of Liberty if only he could get the night off, to see the president deliver a “robust unilateralist rebuke to everything Davos stands for.” (White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Tuesday that “the president looks forward to promoting his policies to strengthen American businesses, American industries and American workers.”) In addition, Trump will be able to meet with heads of state like Theresa May who at present would rather not extend an official invite.

But what’s in it for Donald? What could possibly make up for the fact that he’ll have to rub shoulders with those his base despises, not to mention sleep in a strange bed, trudge through the snow, wear a bulky parka, and eat god knows what? While Bremmer believes the trip is “an attempt to dominate the headlines,” a Wall Street veteran who has attended in the past told me that “Trump just wants his ring kissed.” He suggested the White House knows the administration’s “only bright side is that the stock market is up and they got tax reform done,” and while most Americans roundly despise the tax bill, those attending the Forum will happily thank Trump in private for his generosity.

Meanwhile, unofficial, indefatigable Trump spokesperson Anthony Scaramucci, whose job last year was to “translate” Trump to the global elites, is already hyping the visit:

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