Don’t believe a word of Trump’s baloney

There he was, sitting next to PM Narendra Modi, gnashing his teeth and lying through them. At their recent meeting in France, Donald Trump reiterated his frequent boast that he had stopped eight wars during his time in office. This is a highly ticklish issue for New Delhi because one of those conflicts is the Indo-Pakistani clash of last year. In the same breath, Trump declared that he would be there for India in case it was attacked – but only if Modi was at the helm of affairs.

Noted Indian commentators on Pakistan, such as Sushant Sareen of the Observer Research Foundation, are now explicitly claiming that the United States actively supported Pakistan during that conflict with India last year. Modi was indisputably the leader of India then. If Trump’s verbal guarantees carry any weight, the question must be asked flatly: why didn’t Trump support India when it fought Pakistan? The reality behind the public smiles is that our bilateral defence cooperation is currently in the toilet. The United States is withholding the delivery of critical jet engines required for India’s indigenous Tejas fighter jet programme.

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In response to this strategic unreliability, New Delhi has deliberately chosen French Rafale fighter planes over the American F-35 platform, a procurement choice that has caused immense annoyance to Trump. This diplomatic drift is intentional, not accidental. Trump refused to attend the high-profile summit of the Quad security dialogue scheduled last year in India. Given that he seems to be openly kow-towing to China now, against whom the Quad was originally constructed, it remains highly unlikely that he will attend its next scheduled summit either.

If the next Quad summit takes place in India, Trump better prepare for the cold reception awaiting him. During his press appearance, Trump casually announced that he plans to visit India soon. He clearly does not realize how deeply unpopular a man he has become across the country after his offensive public remarks endorsing India as a “hellhole” nation. While he flatters Indian leadership in public, his underlying view of the country remains rooted in this hostile, reductionist description. Trump also claimed that India possesses a vital strategic voice in West Asia.

Yet, when the recent regional peace talks were going on, Washington completely sidelined New Delhi, choosing instead to route the mediation exclusively through Pakistan – almost certainly acting at the direct behest of Islamabad. Similarly, Trump continues to claim that a major bilateral trade deal is coming soon, but the ground reality is that negotiations remain entirely stalled. Trump publicly calls Modi a tough negotiator, a “killer,” but the truth is that the United States is ag gressively demanding access to forbidden domestic markets in India, particularly our protected agricultural sector. India will have absolutely none of it. Trump’s record with India’s greatest regional adversary exposes the hollow nature of his security vows.

Trump travelled to Beijing and effectively grovelled before Xi Jinping. If he is willing to capitulate to Chinese leadership for the sake of his own country, can anyone seriously believe that he is going to support India if China launches an attack against us? Don’t believe his baloney. When US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in India recently, he attempted to play damage control, pretending that Trump had never made racist comments against the country. But the historical record cannot be erased; by endorsing India as a hellhole, Trump made his biases perfectly clear. Trump’s malice against India has had lethal consequences on the high seas.

The US military shoots our ships and sinks our sailors in international waters, and then Trump offers nothing but muted, cynical commiseration in return. It is telling that the US Navy has managed to avoid shooting any Chinese or Russian vessels operating under similar circumstances. The highly publicized bonhomie between Trump and Modi, and by extension between the United States and India, is well and truly over. New Delhi must see through Trump’s theatrical flattery. India must not believe a single word of his promises and must instead focus on riding his presidency out, while hoping for a saner, more friendly leader to eventually emerge in the United States.

(The writer is an expert on energy and contributes regularly to publications in India and overseas)