CITY NOTES
There was a lot of interesting news coming out of the USA, where it seems Democrats seem to be making a turnaround, courtesy Donal Trump. His positioning of himself as an outsider has some advantages, but it also means that he draws more attention to himself.
The federal shutdown? Trump’s fault. Slow-moving traffic? Trump’s fault. The US economy failing to pick up? Trump’s fault. All those off-year victories for the Democrats? Trump’s fault. He’s paying the price of focusing everything on himself. No matter what happens, it’s his fault.
And he doesn’t know how to let go. He’s so incensed with India not admitting that he made the peace between it and Pakistan in June, that he’s upped the number of Indian Air Force planes ther Pakistan Air Force downed from seven to eight. I wonder if he’ll stop himself. A word to the wise: India has got 507 combat aircraft. Any number of downings must not exceed that.
I suspect that Trump was inspired by Indian Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Amarpreet Singh that the IAF had destroyed four or five PAF F16s on the ground, while its S400 air defence system had shot down six more. That reminds me of the late great pacer Fazal Mehmood, who was a heart-throb just as Imran was: he claimed to bowl at 90 mph (he depended more on movement rather than pace): “70 off the pitch, 20 in the air.”
Amarpreet said this in September, about three months later (Fazal spoke about 30 years after his playing days). I suppose he wanted us to believe that no one had told him for three months. Well, if Trump keeps on remembering further details, the ACM might find that he doesn’t have an air force any longer.
Everyone sees the New York City election result, but then no one looks hard enough at Virginia and New Jersey, which elected their first female governors, both Democrats. As if in a game of ‘Snap’. The Republicans had put up not just a woman, but a black. She lost to a white lady.
So Zohran Mamdani’s win isn’t that much of a stand-out. Sure, he’s an Asian, but then the USA has elected a Black President. And besides, Mamdani was born in Uganda, which means he’s ineligible for the presidency.
After Virginia, I suspect the Republicans will stop experimenting with people of colour. But they should look at more Ugandan Asians. Mamdani is the son of one, and Rishi Sunak, the former British PM, is another. Well, Mamdani’s grandparents were from Gujerat, from where Narendra Modi comes, so maybe that’s the real factor to watch out for.
I don’t know about Virginia or New Jersey, but I would have thought that New York would have been more birdari conscious. I mean, it does have some well defined biradris. Like Jews. New York is the city with the most Jews in the world, more than any Israeli city. In Pakistan, not only would the Mayor be a Jew, but so would the President. Like Lahore has probably got more Kashmiris than Muzaffarabad, and the PM is a Kashmiri from Lahore, as was his brother before him. And the Punjab CM.
Mamvani has become Mayor of Trump’s hometown, thus revealing an uncomfortable truth. Trump has become President even after losing his home state, New York. In the USA, presidential candidates used to be able to get the ‘favourite-son’ effect and win their own state. In 1972, William McGovern went down to the worst electoral-college defeat in US history when he lost every single state.
Except his native South Dakota. In Pakistan, we call it ‘ghar ki seat’ Y’ know, where one brother fights for MNA, one for MPA and one for councillor. The MNA and even MPA seat might not be won every election, but the councillorship is. That is the ghar di seat. Rival applicants for the party ticket may say disparagingly about a rival: “Oh apnay ghar di seat vee nai jit sakda. (he can’t even win his ghar di seat.)”
All those being rejected for a ticket may now use Trump as an example. After all, if someone can be elected US President without having his sons elected as Mayor of New York, Representative or Senator, in short without having a ghar ki seat, why should it be necessary to win some MPA seat in the boondocks?
Also in the USA, former Vice President Dick Cheney passed away. Back in 2000, George Bush Senior got his son to pick his former Defense Secretary to head up the team picking his vice-presidential candidate. Dubya rejected all the others, and picked him. The rest is history.
