A recent news byte scared me terribly in spite of giving us plenty of warning; much like the sword of Damocles; of a terrible event in the offing: Donald Trump is now the presumptive Republican nominee to be the next President of the United States of America. With the only other Republican candidate Ted Cruz dropping out of the race and a significant victory in Indiana; something that seemed to be a bad dream may actually be coming true: there is a real possibility that The Donald may actually bebome the next President of the USA. So what does Donald Trump as POTUS mean for us in India?
His own party doesn’t want him
The Republican Party’s last offering to the world was George W (Dubya) Bush and even that party has fought tooth and nail to stop the rise and rise of The Donald. Republican Party chief Reince Priebus declaring Trump the “presumptive” Republican Nominee appeared to be distinctly reluctant seeing how many people from his own party have been against Trump. The House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican has declared that he is not ready to support Trump yet.
Who is supporting The Donald in the USA?
Trump supporters
Trump supporters in the US are typically poorly educated, college dropouts and people from low income groups with a reason to believe that Trump will rescue them from their undeserved plight. Trump supporters are often racist, xenophobic and suspicious of foreigners which is why he finds such support for his anti-Islamic, anti immigration stances and generally belligerent rants that target various groups.
What the Trump nomination means for India
Trump is known to make the general “we will bring American jobs back to America” type anti-outsourcing noises and as said in particular that he will not let Indians take away American jobs.
What this means for Indian immigration and outsourcing
Many see all the anti-India posturing as just that; posturing and bluster. Trump is nothing if not self serving and he has said that India is actually one of the places his own businesses will be investing in. He already has licensing agreements with real estate companies in India for creating some extremely high end building projects in the centre of Mumbai and in Pune.
Who is the better candidate?
In general Republicans are viewed as being better for India than Democrats. It is also thought that the democrats go softer on the Pakistanis than the Republicans. Political pundits are not worried that anything markedly untoward will result from The Donald being installed in the White House. In any case, he in a “presumptive nominee” right now. There is still the presidential election and Hilary Clinton for him to contend with.
But is she any better than him? Tell us what you think.
Author – Reena Daruwalla
