One Life One World

Donald Trump won  the presidency by challenging both the Republican and Democrat Party establishments. For too long, the political class of party leaders, paid consultants, lobbyists, donor-funded think tanks, and partisan media outlets ignored the concerns of millions of working- and middle-class American families. These families didn’t see themselves as Democrats or Republicans. They saw themselves as Americans—and they wanted change. Career politicians  didn’t get the message. Rather than listen to the American people, the establishment chose to lecture them instead. Democrats in Congress, for example, could’ve joined with President Trump and Republicans to work together on infrastructure, immigration, healthcare, the economy, our military, and more. Instead, Democrats spent four years obstructing that agenda, wasting time—and tens of millions in taxpayer dollars—on political stunts. While the left resisted, President Trump went to work. He replaced NAFTA,  something b...

Those seeking diminution of the military and establishment’s role can draw some satisfaction from the fact that Pakistan’s institutions of state stand exposed for their machinations. But showing that the emperor has no clothes does not mean that the emperor’s power has evaporated Since 1958, the all-powerful military-intelligence combine has effectively run Pakistan, occasionally with a democratic façade. The hybrid model of governance requires that civilian politicians agree to operate within parameters determined by what Pakistanis euphemistically refer to as “the establishment”. It also depends on some level of secrecy for military manipulation and manoeuvres in the political arena.  Since his ouster as Prime Minister in April 2022 through a parliamentary vote of no confidence, cricketer-turned-politician  Imran Khan  has refused to play by the establishment’s rules. The ubiquity of social media has made it difficult to maintain absolute secrecy of the establishment’s ...