Joys of Trumplomacy

Public, loud, upfront, filled with impropriety and high praise, sometimes laced with insults. This is what we call Trumplomacy. But the larger objective is the same: American supremacy

- SHEKHAR GUPTA

In the name of making America great again, Donald Trump is reviving anti-Americanism in far parts of the world where it had gone into dormancy. His playbook so far has been to publicly ridicule and humiliate allies and flirt with adversaries, theirs and his country's.

For us, in India, his loudly and repeatedly claiming credit for stopping the war through intervention and mediation has reopened the old wounds of hyphenation. Those on the Left and in the larger anti-Modi ecosystem are smirking in quiet celebration: What did you expect when you supped with the devil? And who knows, if he does visit India to attend the Quad later this year, he may (more likely than not) make a stopover in Pakistan too. For him, old rules of diplomacy do not apply. If India is irritated by what it calls hyphenation, it is India's problem. Why should it make the rules for him?

In at least four statements, he has mentioned Narendra Modi and Field Marshal Asim Munir in the same sentence. The latest, on June 19, where he said the Pakistani general—very smart man—came for lunch to the White House, and India's Prime Minister Modi—fantastic man, a great friend of mine—etc etc etc.

Here we were slipping into neurosis because he was re-hyphenating us with Pakistan. Now he is hyphenating Modi with Munir. What a calamity. I would counsel a deep breath, some restraint, a rethink, and also a smile. If Trump is hyphenating Munir with Modi, who should be complaining most of all? Shouldn't it be poor Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister who gave Munir his fifth star, field marshal's baton? At least on paper, if it is worth anything in that Constitution, the field marshal still reports to the prime minister.