Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World

Bill Clinton ended his presidency with an uncertain future in the wake of scandals surrounding his affairs and last-minute presidential pardons. However, he quickly retooled himself as a highly sought-after speaker and thought leader in the realm of global partnerships. His philosophy shifted from seeking solutions on a government level toward a belief that private-public, market-based partnerships are the path to solving global issues.

In 2016, the Clinton Global Initiative held a conference in New York City the same week as the meeting of the UN. Hilary Clinton had recently defeated Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries and was now facing Donald Trump in the US presidential election. Nevertheless, Trump gained political momentum and eventually won the 2016 election, and the Brexit referendum separated Britain from the European Union—signs that the MarketWorld approach promoted by the Clintons and others had overlooked average people’s frustrations. In a panel on “Partnerships for Global Prosperity” that Bill Clinton moderated at the CGI conference, he subtly criticized people swayed by populists like Trump and the backers of Brexit. Another panel at the CGI focused on the topic of women’s equality. The panel’s solution was to get more women into the fastest-growing industry for their demographic: beauty.