Kameel Majdali's Road Ahead

His name is a household word, and it is rare for people, both Americans and non-Americans, to be neutral. They either dislike him intensely or love him wholeheartedly. Yet, regardless of your opinion, Donald Trump is the most colourful man to occupy the Oval Office in modern times.   First elected as US President in 2016 on the coattails of Brexit, his first term in office (2017-2021) was eventful and turbulent. He worked hard and fought hard, and, unlike many career establishment elite politicians, the New York ‘blue collar’ billionaire, Donald Trump, related to everyday Americans, the working class, minorities, and Generation Z young people. That’s how he won two presidential elections, despite being a political outsider. Having left the White House after the disputed 2020 presidential election (one that he never conceded), Trump was considered politically dead. The obstacles to a political comeback were enormous: a second impeachment over the January 6th riot at the Capitol Buil...

  April 2, 2025, another day, another flurry of activity coming from the Oval Office. Yet, it wasn’t like any other day. After signing yet another Executive Order, US President Donald Trump declared it ‘Liberation Day.’ On paper, he had ordered ten per cent tariffs across the board on countries worldwide, friend and foe alike. In reality, he is shaking up the world's economic and political order, deliberately. Initially, there was great consternation around the world. The stock market and, more worryingly, the bond market dived. Dozens of nations queued up to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement with the American administration. Then, Trump announced a 90-day freeze on tariffs for those countries that had reached out to the Americans. Both stock and bond markets recovered; a correction came to what was overvalued, and life calmed down for the moment. While critics derisively called the ‘tariff freeze’ a ‘backflip,’ it was actually part of the plan all along. Liberation Day spawned...