Latest news with #politicalmovement
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pence: American right facing ‘existential identity crisis'
Former Vice President Pence warned in a new essay that the conservative movement is being threatened by what he describes as 'populist fervor' and the 'transformation into the anti-woke movement.' 'An existential identity crisis now grips the American right,' Pence wrote in the essay, which was co-authored by a founder of the Heritage Foundation conservative think tank. 'A political movement once united by a commitment to limited government, moral order, and a robust defense of American ideals now appears fractured, its purpose clouded by populist grievances and ideological drift.' 'The question for today's conservatives is clear: Will we remain a party of enduring principles, or will we succumb to populism unmoored from conservative ideals?' he added. Pence, whose relationship with President Trump crumbled after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, did not identify Trump as the force behind his grievances with the current state of conservatism, but he detailed several issues of concern that resemble policies of the second Trump presidency. He wrote in the 4,200-word piece against adopting universal baseline tariff policies, lessening support for Ukraine, focusing too much on anti-woke endeavors and using 'government power to steer corporate behavior.' Trump adopted a baseline tariff strategy in April that applied to most countries including American allies; repeatedly questioned support for Ukraine; and pressured companies to drop diversity, equity and inclusion policies and since his return to the White House in January. Pence framed each of those issues as populist priorities that are not rooted in conservatism. 'Populist policies that seek to dismantle perceived enemies without regard for long-term consequences risk undermining the very order they claim to advocate,' he wrote. 'Whether it be tariffs that alienate allies, regulatory overreach for the sake of punishing progressive firms, or isolationism that leaves the world's despots unchecked, these approaches are the antithesis of … careful, measured conservatism.' Pence took aim in the article at the 'Democratic Party's efforts to banish common sense,' but he argued that the response has led the right astray from its conservative principles. 'Though subtle at first, the consequences of the conservative movement's transformation into the anti-woke movement have steadily accumulated,' he wrote. 'By the time Donald Trump won his second term, much post-election analysis correctly framed his victory not as a triumph of conservative ideals, but as a mere repudiation of a decadent and debauched Democratic Party.' 'While such opposition can attract allies and can even win elections when Republicans are out of power, it cannot serve as a movement's moral foundation. Conservatism cannot be defined solely by what it isn't,' he added. The White House rejected the characterizations in Pence's piece. 'President Trump's dominance in the GOP primary and general election is proof that Americans have firmly embraced the America First movement and resoundingly rejected the career politicians who have devastated Main Street prosperity, unleashed global chaos, corrupted our institutions and eroded our values,' White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement to The Hill. Pence, who has himself lambasted 'woke-ism' in speeches since leaving office, briefly sought the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 but gained little traction before dropping out of the race. The former Indiana governor said in an interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press' last month that he doubted he would run for the White House again but would advocate for 'conservative values.' 'I want to be a voice for the policies and liberties enshrined in the Constitution of the United States,' Pence said. 'I want to be a champion of the conservative cause, and that's where I'll stay focused, and we'll let the future take care of itself.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Arab News
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Imran Khan's party announces Pakistan-wide protest movement after Muharram
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party announced on Wednesday it would hold a nationwide movement against the government after the Islamic month of Muharram, days after Pakistan's top court denied the party reserved seats for minorities and women in parliament. The announcement followed a meeting of the PTI's parliamentarians in Islamabad. The party's lawmakers discussed several issues such as the political situation after the Supreme Court's verdict last week which denied the party reserved seats in parliament, launching a movement to demand the release of Khan and PTI supporters from prison. The Supreme Court's constitutional bench on June 27 ruled that former prime minister Imran Khan's PTI is not entitled to reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies, upholding an earlier verdict by the Peshawar High Court. The dispute arose after PTI lost its electoral symbol ahead of the February 8 national polls and its candidates contested as independents. Despite its candidates winning the most general seats, the PTI was denied reserved seats for women and minorities, which are allocated to parties based on proportional representation, by the ECP. The government lost its two-thirds majority in parliament in July 2024 when the top court reversed the ECP's decision, terming it unconstitutional and ordering the reserved seats to be allocated to PTI. The ECP and the political parties had filed a review petition, which were accepted by the top court last week. 'We [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf] are starting a movement after Muharram,' Ali Amin Gandapur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister and a senior PTI leader, told reporters after the party's meeting. 'This will be a Pakistan-wide movement, god willing. We will protest peacefully, politically, like we always do. We will proceed and take it forward but if they [government] fire bullets, we will plan for that as well.' The government rejects the PTI's allegations that the February 2024 polls were rigged, accusing Khan's party of disrupting its efforts of ensuring the sustainable economic growth. RULING COALITION GETS TWO-THIRDS MAJORITY The ECP's latest notification granting parties other than the PTI reserved seats for women and minorities means the ruling coalition government now has two-thirds majority in parliament. The electoral authority also withdrew its earlier notifications of July 24 and July 29, 2024 on Wednesday, which declared the successful candidates on general seats in the national and provincial assemblies as PTI-returned candidates. Sixteen reserved seats for women and three for minorities in the National Assembly were allocated to various parties, with the lion's share going to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the PTI's chief rival. The PML-N were allocated 13 seats, while four were allocated to the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) and two to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (JUI-F). With this development, the ruling coalition has crossed the two-thirds majority mark, securing 233 seats in the 336-member National Assembly, the lower house of parliament. A political party or a coalition government needs 224 seats to reach the threshold. As per the notification, 21 reserved seats for women were reinstated in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly, with eight allocated to the JUI-F, six to the PML-N and five to the PPPP. One seat each was also allotted to the PTI Parliamentarians and the Awami National Party (ANP). Meanwhile, out of the four reserved seats for minorities in KP Assembly, two were given to the JUI-F and one each to the PML-N and the PPPP. The ECP restored 24 reserved seats for women in the Punjab Assembly, of which the PML-N received 21, while one seat each was allocated to the PPPP, the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q). Additionally, three minority seats were allocated--two to the PML-N and one to the PPPP. Two reserved seats for women and one for minorities were reinstated in the Sindh Assembly, with two allotted to the PPP and one to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P). 'GRAVE INJUSTICE' Political analysts noted the development would further weaken the PTI's position at the center. 'This move is likely to further undermine democracy in Pakistan and encourage horse-trading, as the ruling coalition may try to woo legislators particularly in KP,' Mazhar Abbas, a political analyst and journalist, told Arab News. The PTI has a large support base in KP, where it has been emerging as the largest party since the 2013 polls. Zahid Hussain, another political analyst, said the move has given the ruling coalition government the much-desired two-thirds majority, enabling them to make constitutional changes as per their will. 'The government and [military] establishment appear intent on securing a two-thirds majority to push through legislation and constitutional amendments of their choosing,' he noted. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Islamabad-based think tank Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) said the move would further strengthen the ruling PML-N as it would reduce the party's reliance on the PPP. 'In National Assembly, PML-N-led coalition has come closer to having a simple majority without the PPP,' Mehboob said. He added that after securing the reserved seats, the PML-N-led coalition needed only 11 seats to secure a simple majority on its own.
Arab News
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Imran Khan's party says will organize Pakistan-wide protest movement after Muharram
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party announced on Wednesday it would hold a nationwide movement against the government after the Islamic month of Muharram, days after Pakistan's top court denied the party reserved seats for minorities and women in parliament. The announcement followed a meeting of the PTI's parliamentarians in Islamabad. The party's lawmakers discussed several issues such as the political situation after the Supreme Court's verdict last week which denied the party reserved seats in parliament, launching a movement to demand the release of Khan and PTI supporters from prison. The Supreme Court's constitutional bench on June 27 ruled that former prime minister Imran Khan's PTI is not entitled to reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies, upholding an earlier verdict by the Peshawar High Court. The dispute arose after PTI lost its electoral symbol ahead of the February 8 national polls and its candidates contested as independents. Despite its candidates winning the most general seats, the PTI was denied reserved seats for women and minorities, which are allocated to parties based on proportional representation, by the ECP. The government lost its two-thirds majority in parliament in July 2024 when the top court reversed the ECP's decision, terming it unconstitutional and ordering the reserved seats to be allocated to PTI. The ECP and the political parties had filed a review petition, which were accepted by the top court last week. 'We [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf] are starting a movement after Muharram,' Ali Amin Gandapur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister and a senior PTI leader, told reporters after the party's meeting. 'This will be a Pakistan-wide movement, god willing. We will protest peacefully, politically, like we always do. We will proceed and take it forward but if they [government] fire bullets, we will plan for that as well.' The government rejects the PTI's allegations that the February 2024 polls were rigged, accusing Khan's party of disrupting its efforts of ensuring the sustainable economic growth. RULING COALITION GETS TWO-THIRDS MAJORITY The ECP's latest notification granting parties other than the PTI reserved seats for women and minorities means the ruling coalition government now has two-thirds majority in parliament. The electoral authority also withdrew its earlier notifications of July 24 and July 29, 2024 on Wednesday, which declared the successful candidates on general seats in the national and provincial assemblies as PTI-returned candidates. Sixteen reserved seats for women and three for minorities in the National Assembly were allocated to various parties, with the lion's share going to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the PTI's chief rival. The PML-N were allocated 13 seats, while four were allocated to the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) and two to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (JUI-F). With this development, the ruling coalition has crossed the two-thirds majority mark, securing 233 seats in the 336-member National Assembly, the lower house of parliament. A political party or a coalition government needs 224 seats to reach the threshold. As per the notification, 21 reserved seats for women were reinstated in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly, with eight allocated to the JUI-F, six to the PML-N and five to the PPPP. One seat each was also allotted to the PTI Parliamentarians and the Awami National Party (ANP). Meanwhile, out of the four reserved seats for minorities in KP Assembly, two were given to the JUI-F and one each to the PML-N and the PPPP. The ECP restored 24 reserved seats for women in the Punjab Assembly, of which the PML-N received 21, while one seat each was allocated to the PPPP, the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q). Additionally, three minority seats were allocated--two to the PML-N and one to the PPPP. Two reserved seats for women and one for minorities were reinstated in the Sindh Assembly, with two allotted to the PPP and one to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P). 'GRAVE INJUSTICE' Political analysts noted the development would further weaken the PTI's position at the center. 'This move is likely to further undermine democracy in Pakistan and encourage horse-trading, as the ruling coalition may try to woo legislators particularly in KP,' Mazhar Abbas, a political analyst and journalist, told Arab News. The PTI has a large support base in KP, where it has been emerging as the largest party since the 2013 polls. Zahid Hussain, another political analyst, said the move has given the ruling coalition government the much-desired two-thirds majority, enabling them to make constitutional changes as per their will. 'The government and [military] establishment appear intent on securing a two-thirds majority to push through legislation and constitutional amendments of their choosing,' he noted. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Islamabad-based think tank Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) said the move would further strengthen the ruling PML-N as it would reduce the party's reliance on the PPP. 'In National Assembly, PML-N-led coalition has come closer to having a simple majority without the PPP,' Mehboob said. He added that after securing the reserved seats, the PML-N-led coalition needed only 11 seats to secure a simple majority on its own.
CBS News
29-06-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
William Buckley and his drive to propel America to the right
William Buckley and his drive to propel America to the right William Buckley and his drive to propel America to the right William Buckley and his drive to propel America to the right For decades, William F. Buckley Jr. was a one-of-a-kind character: an author and columnist, and a celebrity intellectual. He hosted a TV debate show, "Firing Line," and was often a guest on late night television. But beyond that stardom and upper-crust accent was something consequential: Bill Buckley was a conservative who sought to propel the nation to the right. "Buckley invented cultural politics," said former New York Times Book Review Editor Sam Tanenhaus. He says we are still living in the world created by Buckley, who died in 2008. (He would have turned 100 this year.) I asked, "Is there a line from Buckley to McCarthy, to Goldwater, to Nixon, to Reagan, to Gingrich, to Trump?" "You have just drawn the fever chart or outline of the modern Republican Party in America," Tanenhaus replied. "He's the founder of the movement we have today." Tanenhaus' sweeping new biography is "Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America." Random House Buckley's beginnings can be traced back to Yale University, which now houses an extensive archive of his personal papers. Buckley burst onto the national scene in 1951 with his book, "God and Man at Yale," which took on his alma mater as a thicket of secular professors and liberal elites. Tanenhaus said, "He was 25 years old, handsome Ivy League graduate who has everything going for him, but he's also gonna reveal the secrets of the ivory tower." In 1955, he founded National Review, seeking to provide conservatives with coverage of their ideas and debates. (I once worked there as a Buckley fellow and reporter). Though he never held office himself, Buckley caused a stir when he ran for mayor of New York City in 1965, and mused that if he won, he would demand a recount. "He was really turning the party inside out," Tanenhaus said. "He was going to make the Republican Party the voice of the excluded middle class." But as he built his new coalition, he also drew scrutiny and denunciations, especially on race. In the Fifties and Sixties, Buckley opposed key civil rights legislation, and supported segregation. And he had his critics. Buckley's views were rebuked at high-profile debates, be it with James Baldwin or Gore Vidal. Tanenhaus says, by the late sixties, Buckley was seen as a central force, boosting Richard Nixon and, in 1980, Ronald Reagan, who won the presidency "Bill Buckley reached his peak under Richard Nixon, because Nixon needed Buckley," Tanenhaus said. Reagan, however, did not: "Reagan was a great pragmatist, and he knew that Buckley was still a movement guy." Then came a new generation of louder, brasher conservatives, starting with Rush Limbaugh. And in Washington, there was Newt Gingrich, who won the Speaker's gavel in 1994. Asked what he believed Buckley thought of the rising stars of the right in the 1990s, Gingrich said, "I think we amused him. He was proof that conservatism could be smart, and that you could win the argument. Buckley was a model of thinking about things and to say things that are true but not acceptable." Gingrich, now a close ally of President Donald Trump, says the flame of Buckley still flickers inside the GOP. "Much of the critique that Buckley made at Yale of the intellectuals is the underlying fuel for Trump's assault on the Ivy League," he said. I asked, "You see echoes of Buckley in what President Trump's doing with the universities today?" "Yes." "What's the difference in your view between Buckley's conservatism and President Trump's conservatism?" "Trump is the most effective anti-liberal in my lifetime," Gingrich said. "I think Trump focuses on doing and achieving more than on knowing. I think Buckley thought his role was to be a genuine intellectual. And that meant, obviously, he wouldn't be a particularly good politician." Tanenhaus says William F. Buckley Jr's legacy is complicated. His civility certainly stands out: "He wants to defeat you, but he's gonna defeat you with his vocabulary. And that is an aspect of democracy that's been lost." Yet, for the biographer, there is also an inescapable conclusion: Buckley paved the way for Trump: "If Trump is able, if he succeeds in some of the big things he means to do, then he may emerge as the single most powerful figure to come out of the movement William F. Buckley Jr. created all those years ago." READ AN EXCERPT: "Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America" For more info: Story produced by Michelle Kessel. Editor: Jennifer Falk.
National Post
28-05-2025
- General
- National Post
Geoff Russ: The dreary impotence of Canadian republicans. Long live the King
Article content It is not a coincidence that some of our most radical republicans, like William Lyon Mackenzie, have been traitors willing to spill blood in the pursuit of their goal. Article content Thankfully, today's republicans are reduced to the status of being frustrated, challenged lack of inspiration and vigour in their movement is why it continues to fail. It has its vocal advocates, but they are a politically and culturally impotent rabble when taken as a whole. Article content Some among them have even attempted to cite the Bible as a reason for removing the monarch, proclaiming that its text goes against the elevation of any one man. They should read further into that same book and find the words 'Fear God, Honour the King.' Article content If republicans are bewildered by the affinity that Canadians retain for the monarchy, it is because their vision of the country is dull, unremarkable, and grey. A republican Canada is one stripped of elegance and tradition, rendered into a purely managerial and bureaucratic state where obscure public servants occupy the position of head of state. Article content People desire something beyond crass political contests in their leaders. In 2025, this world of ours is incredibly flat, digital, and racked with presentism, where genuine beauty, transcendent majesty, and time-tested refinement are in short supply. Article content There is something deeply uplifting about the Crown, and all of its pageantry and resonance help to swell national pride, which Canada sorely needs. These intangible qualities enliven society and renew or create a sense of wonder for millions, a gift not easily found and impossible to recover if lost. Article content For those that do care about preserving a distinct Canada, the Crown is a point of connection that links us with long-buried generations through rituals and continuity. Critics call it irrational, but so is love, friendship, and the other parts of life that motivate and drive human beings more fiercely than anything material. Article content A Canada with a Crown is the country that it was intended to be in 1867, and fidelity to that is an act of patriotism. This past federal election saw a renewed sense of Canadian nationalism, albeit expressed in strange and lowbrow ways like the worship of ketchup chips and nostalgia for Molson Canadian beer commercials from the 1990s. Article content Nonetheless, it displayed that the Canadian people still have a desire to be distinct. The celebrations and parades marking King Charles III's visit to Canada this week are the healthiest expressions of that seen in years. Article content The monarchy's popularity in Canada tends to grow whenever it makes itself present here, and it ought to do that more often and remind people why it exists. Article content When the late Prince Philip visited Canada in 1969, he perfectly summed up why we still continue to have a sovereign. Article content
