Make no mistake. The candidacy of Kamala Harris and forceful withdrawal of former United States President Joe Biden was a deep-rooted conspiracy of liberal stalwarts like Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and a few others. Harris was neither capable nor prepared to be a presidential candidate. And it is not just me who is saying this. Well-known liberal columnist Janan Ganesh wrote in Financial Times: “In retrospect, the US election of 2024 was settled on August 12 2020.” That was the day when Biden chose Harris as his presidential running mate. Other FT columnists like my friend and Modi-hater Edward Luce said that if Biden had withdrawn six months earlier and true primaries for a presidential candidate had been conducted, a better candidate — other than Harris — would have emerged.
Such realisations, which only came after the results of the US elections were announced on 6 November, are partly correct, though. The main issue with Harris was that she could neither own nor disown Biden’s legacy. Her boss’ high (and consistent) disapproval ratings were significant impediments. That created a second dilemma for her — she could neither say that she would continue Biden-era policies nor elaborate on what she would do differently. To overcome this limitation, Harris’ team tried to vilify Donald Trump. For Democrats, “F” (fascist) had higher priority over “E” (Economy). It was a role reversal of senior George Bush, who, in the 1992 presidential elections, was obsessed with victory in the Iraq war while Democratic candidate Bill Clinton was singularly focused on the economy. Clinton’s campaign advisor Jim Carville coined the famous phrase: “It’s the economy, stupid.” Rest is history.
She saw it as a dream run
As it was quite an uphill task to defend the economic record of the Biden-Harris administration, the Democrats ignored practically every opinion poll that said that the economy was the top priority for more than 70 per cent of Americans. Almost the same number said they are worse off today than four years ago. On the contrary, less than 20 per cent voters said that abortion is their top priority issue. Contrary to conventional wisdom, even the young voters (less than 40 years old) overwhelmingly voted for Trump.
Trump lost the 2020 election due to his poor handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and denial of its adverse impact. But liberals took this as a mandate for their ideological agenda. The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by the police was indeed deplorable, but so was the violence that followed. Instead of condemning it, liberals legitimised extreme slogans like “Defund Police”, essentially castigating the entire police force as villains. No one heard Harris criticising such demands.
Fear of losing votes compelled Harris to take contradictory stands on the same issue in different geographies. The classic example is the issue of the Israel-Gaza war in the Middle East. She spoke about the miserable conditions of Gazans in Michigan (which has significant Muslim voters) and protecting Israel in New York (targeting its large Jewish population). Despite this double talk, she lost Michigan — which Biden won in 2020 with a good margin — and her margin of victory narrowed in New York.
Thanks to liberal media, Harris had a dream run for a few days after the announcement of her candidature. In US primaries, people and opposing candidates get the opportunity to grill the candidates and compel them to clarify their stand on various issues. Harris bypassed this completely and was parachuted as a candidate. She received nomination on a golden platter without making any effort. She and her team treated it as a God-given gift.
Money started pouring on her like never before. She received funding of more than one billion dollars, which is almost twice that of Trump. Endorsement by Hollywood celebrities, ex-colleagues of Trump (long forgotten by commoners), some Republicans (like Liz Cheney) and ex-presidents like Obama and Clinton made her believe that it was going to be a dream run. But the ground reality was different. After the initial surge in opinion polls post the Democratic Party convention, Harris’s popularity was on a declining path, making the race extremely tight. Pro-Harris commentators started talking about it in a soft tone; they were more occupied with Trump’s vocabulary and perceived mistakes of his campaign. It created a kind of echo chamber.
Till 48 hours before voting, commentators announced that opinion polls in Iowa (which is traditionally Red) showed a slight edge to Harris, raising hopes that a similar trend would follow in other tightly contested states.
Good bets indeed
Of course, some very smart people could sense a change in the winds. Two of them are worth mentioning. First is Amazon chairperson Jeff Bezos. While defending Washington Post management’s decision to break away from the tradition and not to endorse any candidate, (in normal course, WaPo would have certainly endorsed Harris), Bezos wrote: “The hard truth: Americans don’t trust the news media.” This decision also destroyed the carefully carved myth by liberal media that corporate personalities do not influence editorial positions. Second is, of course, Tesla CEO Elon Musk. He showered dollars on the Trump campaign, and, in return, Tesla stock went up by more than 14 per cent on results day. Good bet indeed.
How will it impact India-US relations? One thing is certain — they will not deteriorate. On the contrary, there is every possibility and it will strengthen further. PM Narendra Modi has consistently interacted with Obama, Trump, and Biden in the last 10 years, and now will do the same with Trump again. During every transition, sceptics forecast hurdles in bilateral relations. Such scepticism was evident just before the first meeting between Modi and Trump in 2017 as well. But after the meeting, everyone came out with a smiling face. Their chemistry was seen during every meeting and “Howdy Modi” and “Namaste Trump” events. Credit also goes to bipartisan support for strong India-US partnership in the US Congress. There will be some issues of disagreement, but they won’t be unsurmountable. I, therefore, join many others, who are optimistic about stronger India-US relations.
Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale is In-Charge, Foreign Affairs Department, BJP. Views are personal.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)