Narendra Modi should know that being on Trump’s friend list is no picnic

US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi | Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Is Donald Trump’s flattering opinion of Narendra Modi anything to put on your CV?

It turns out Donald Trump likes Narendra Modi. Donald Trump calls Narendra Modi “a friend of mine”. “I like him very much” is how Donald Trump talks about Narendra Modi.

But before Modi fans start basking in the eternal sunshine of Trump’s spotless mind, here’s something else to keep in mind.

These revelations come from Bob Woodward’s book Fear: Trump in the White House, which Trump has called a “joke” and the White House has called “reckless” and a work of fiction.

“The Woodward book is a scam. I don’t talk the way I am quoted. If I did I would not have been elected President,” says the man once caught on tape talking about pussy grabbing. “The quotes were made up.”

The Woodward book is a scam. I don’t talk the way I am quoted. If I did I would not have been elected President. These quotes were made up. The author uses every trick in the book to demean and belittle. I wish the people could see the real facts – and our country is doing GREAT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2018

Oh dear. Is there a Modi exception?

But wait, if there is a Modi exception then that leads us headlong into another problem. Should we believe everything else Woodward says about Modi? Modi apparently wants to bond with Trump at Camp David, the famous presidential retreat where Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords in the presence of Jimmy Carter. Franklin Roosevelt also hosted Winston Churchill at Camp David.

That would have been quite a coup for Modi fans who love to be able to brag that never before has any Indian leader been received with such respect. As far as India-US relations go, that would have been seen as sealing the deal.

Alas, Woodward says Trump was not keen. Reince Priebus, who was Trump’s chief-of-staff at that time, told his national security adviser H.R. McMaster that the trip was “not on the cards”. McMaster protested. “It’s India, man. It’s f*****g India.” But Trump did not bend. And the Goliaths of the world politics did not have their David moment. Modi got a “no-frills” cocktail reception and then a White House working dinner, respectable and warm but not historic. Pervez Musharraf incidentally did get a Camp David function thanks to George Bush.

Of course, the problem is Indians love being told that powerful people in the West adore them (and bristle at any hint of criticism from the same West). Remember how excited we were at Barack Obama’s blurb for Modi in Time magazine? But the question is: does anyone really want to be on Trump’s most favoured list?

If Woodward’s book and the reaction to it is any indication, the people closest to Trump have been doing their best to shield the presidency from him.

And their opinion about his grasp on his job is pretty damning.

Goldman Sachs president and National Economic Council director apparently came away from his first meeting with Trump “astounded” at his “lack of basic understanding.”

Defence secretary Jim Mattis reportedly told associates that the president “had the understanding of a ‘fifth or sixth-grader’”.

Former deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh allegedly said working for Trump was like “trying to figure out what a child wants”.

His ex-lawyer John Dowd told Trump he could not testify in the Russia investigation because he’s “disabled” and “can’t tell the truth”.

Former political aide of Trump Omarosa Manigault Newman says she has a tape of Trump uttering the N-word when it comes to African-Americans.

When his inner circle wanted him to not do something, they just moved the file and he didn’t notice.

He might be the President of the United States but is that the guy you want as your BFF? Is Trump’s flattering opinion of Modi anything to put on your CV? Next thing you know Modi will have to croon “Tum aa gaye ho, noor aa gaya hai” just like that other outspoken strongman leader Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte once sang “You are the light in my world” for Trump.

Anyway being on Trump’s favourite list is no picnic. Those whom Trump lauded one day as his nearest and dearest are now dismissed by him as deranged wacky people with zero credibility, which leads one to be rather suspect of Trump’s judgement in the first place. Being Trump’s pal should come with a statutory injurious to health warning. It’s quite a revolving door.

But it also leads us to a more serious issue. India-US relations are at an intriguing point. Trump has promised he could be a better friend of India’s than any other US president. Because he has such little regard for realpolitik it could actually work to India’s advantage. Woodward writes “India was the counterweight to Pakistan, which was giving the new administration as much trouble as it had given previous ones by hedging maddeningly on terrorism.”

But while other US presidents grumble about what Pakistan delivers, when push comes to shove they cannot back away from it. Trump trusts his gut more than he trusts any experts around him. Trump, as a businessman, just cannot stomach being on the bad end of a deal. And that more than anything else seems to rankle when it comes to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Modi apparently told Trump that the US had got nothing out of Afghanistan, not even its “massive mineral wealth”. That resonated with Trump who understands deals if nothing else. Trump apparently said he was not making any deals until the US got minerals and that Pakistan was not really a friend.

What the Woodward book shows is that most frustratingly it could be the best of times and the worst of times for India-US relations. The problem is, as the book shows, what Trump believes today and who Trump believes in today can turn on a dime. When it comes to short-attention-span Trump, tomorrow is always another day and another tweet.

Sandip Roy is a journalist, commentator and author.