Coming to Terms With Trump

New Delhi will surely work its way to US policymakers and secure India’s security, economic and strategic interests. But all the same, it is essential to know which door to knock for the right answer and optimum result in the next four years of Trump regime.

WHEN Barack Obama became President in 2009, one of the most important decisions in his first 100 days was probably the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to address the Great Recession. After much debate, the $787 billion ARRA bill— combining tax breaks with spending on infrastructure projects, extension of welfare benefits, and education, originally intended to be bipartisan—was passed by both the House and Senate on February 13, 2009. It was hailed as the first step to ‘We can do it—make America great again’.

Eight years later the Republican president Donald Trump is taking series of actions in his first 100 days to do the same thing—make America great again. In his inaugural address, Trump said the US for too long has been invested in other countries’ industries, militaries, borders and infrastructure while letting its own fall into “disrepair and decay.” “That is the past,” he said.

During the run up to the fiercely contested presidential contest, many in India weighed this question, who is good for India, Trump or Hillary? Long columns in op-ed pages of national dailies extensively quoted foreign journals which said ‘stop this man’. One of the strong arguments was that Trump does not have the backing of his party. But Trump rose above his party. The next argument was even more sanguine—if only there was someone else other than Trump the contest would have been worth watching rather than being a cakewalk for Hillary. Closer to the polls, some of the US experts donned the weatherman’s cap and promptly took their position on the fence.