The president of the Heritage Foundation confronted hosts at the World Economic Forum Thursday in Davos, Switzerland, challenging claims that the WEF is protecting democracy and calling so-called elites "part of the problem."

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts spoke out from Davos, where he had been invited to speak on a panel at the World Economic Forum. Roberts told reporters after his speech that he was somewhat shocked to have received an invitation to the annual meeting of world leaders and globalist figures, but said he cherished the opportunity to give voice to the "forgotten people" who are not collectively heard from or considered by those in attendance.

"The forgotten people aren't just poor or working-class Americans of all ethnic backgrounds. There's a lot of these forgotten people, as I've come to learn over the last few years [who are] small business owners; people who scraped and saved," he said, adding that many aren't often inherently political.

"They all believe the same thing, which is that the American Dream is slipping away from them."