The 2020 Presidential election appears to be heading towards, to put it mildly, one hell of a humdinger on Nov 3rd! Two years of campaign with all its rhythmic chaos will get over soon! So about three weeks out, let’s take this moment to talk about the election on hand. 

If all the wisdom of the 2020 polls are to be believed, considering their claim to have fixed the glitches of their infamous predictions in 2016, Joe Biden seems to have opened up a clear edge to tip toe in the White House! But thats what we were led to believe in 2016 as well when Hillary Clinton thought about her coronation too only to be upended by the talented Mr. Trump who defied all predictions! Knowing full well that nothing is foolproof, we have to be cognizant of one fact – the story line and scenarios have changed since 2016. Thus the pollsters may have fixed the kinks of the 2016 calculations, but the imperfections and peccadilloes of 2020 will be revealed after the dust settles once election is over. President Trump has gained some momentum on his side following a quick and swift recovery from Covid 19. Let’s look back at his tenure over the past three plus years which shows some impressive achievements against all odds! 

 1. President Obama had, rather acerbic in tone, said that Trump doesn’t have a magic wand” – well Trump showed he had, turning the economy in ways nobody had expected. Highest employment rate for the country as a whole. Lowest ever unemployment rates in history for the Blacks , Hispanics and Asians with higher incomes to boot! Thus the recent Gallup poll report of 56% Americans “feeling better off today” is a very significant data compared to every other poll number! The economy was going great guns until the pandemic from China brought the world to a lockdown and a grinding halt including our beloved USA, showing the devastation this corona virus caused to all of us. 

2. Mr. Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winner and left leaning economist, warned of a disastrous economy and markets if Trump were to win the election in 2016 . He must be eating more than the proverbial crows! Haven’t heard of his astute commentaries and predictions of late! We also know that he never wanted to support bumbling Biden. President Trump led efforts and succeeded in  Lowering of taxes, revitalizing manufacturing, fighting the unfair tariff war with China, changing unfair NAFTA to a fair USMCS , making NATO states pay their ‘fair share’ of the agreed upon contributions to the NATO fund to bolster their own security, etc. are landmark political moves to set right the economic agenda.  

3. President Trump has been accused of being a racist – this is an accusation that is more insulting and unfair to the office of the president, this great country, and people who voted for Trump, than one specific person! Accusations of racism is an oversimplification of a complex and deep rooted issue in the US. It’s very true that the African Americans did not come to the USA as modern day immigrants as legal citizens or immigrants to this country. They were forcibly brought here as slaves – a horrendous act against humanity. Ironically , even the modern day illegal entrants virtually enjoy the compassionate concerns of this society,  that was not available to the African Americans community as a whole.

My friend , Dr. Navin Doshi, an author of many books, President of Nalanda International, and a well-known philanthropist, has an interesting perspective on racial discrimination in the USA and in general. He says, Human mind is ever evolving naturally. Ancient tribalism still exists but to much lesser degree. Treating fellow humans with discrimination and hatred is a tragic part of life we witness even today all over the world. He argues that we are all racists to some degree because everyone has likes and dislikes. Racism exists because, it is not just associated with skin color, but also due to different attributes and culture of the people.  Yet the dramatic shift with which we accept fellow human beings today is also an indicator that as people we are changing and evolving too.”

How does one explain the rise of Mr. Obama as the first black President of these United States? How do we explain the achievements of Gen. Powell, Ms. Condeleza Rice, Justice Thomas, to name a few in the US government? Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina expressed his view about racism, “ Just in one generation, my family transcended from picking cotton to the congress”. Further, the sheer domination of black sportsmen in various sports, is so impressive that mentioning their names will require reams of paper to mention a few. And not to mention their accomplishments in art, music and entertainment business! Yes, more needs to be done but let’s all celebrate what all has been achieved, instead of lamenting about things not done yet. There is a long road to travel and while we cannot rest on our laurels as there is so much more ground to cover, we cannot forget where we came from either.

 What seems to be truly amazing is that in this 2020 election, a significant chunk of minority votes of Blacks, Hispanics, Indians and other Asians will very likely come Trumps way based upon recent polls. Thus the chipping away of minority votes away from Dems and Joe Biden could be a critical factor in battleground states.

4. The greatest human tragedy of 21st century is a pandemic also known as covid-19.  Mr. Trump calls it China-virus truthfully, however politically incorrect statement it may be, since the disease has its origins in Wuhan, China! What we do know by now is that the Chinese and WHO did not share full information about this catastrophe which has taken million plus lives, destroyed economies, paralyzed lives and vaporized jobs that will never come back impacting the world severely. Many virologists have claimed that covid-19 is a “Made in China” virus to be used as a bio-weapon and the control of the human population also supported by western oligarchs.  

 Hindsight and 20/20 is an obvious wisdom – easier to be wise after the event ! Dr. Doshi wrote in one of his books, “Hindsight is 20/20, however Nature is 80/20 implying that there is always uncertainty associated with events; for example when it rains it pours, not exactly following our wish. Thus We can’t say what could have, should have and would have been done in the framework of communities we live in. There were those who didn’t want to wear a mask because their freedoms were impacted and then there was Dr. Faucet who said in March that masks will not be any help and now VP Biden wanted to impose a nationwide mandate to wear masks only to backtrack that even as President he didn’t have the authority to impose that mandate. What we do know is that the states most severely hit by the pandemic early on  – NY,NJ,CA, OR ,MI – the Governors of these states paid glowing tributes to the President for his readiness, preparedness and execution of help for whatever they asked for. It’s on record on TV. Please note that the states and cities most affected negatively, both in number of death and economy, are governed by Democrats. 

5. Economic Plan vs economic agenda : if we care to dwell upon the economic and business philosophies of the Republicans and Democrats we see a very clear distinction these entities propound. The Republicans profess and preach a pro-business plan enshrined in capitalist approach based on performance, hard work, innovation and entrepreneurship, to name a few. The Democrats, on the other hand , seem to have no economic plan but instead have an economic agenda to fund their freebies they promise to offer their gullible and misguided supporters. We all know there is no free lunch and even 1-800 toll free phone services are paid for by somebody else! Thus we can predict a massive tax hikes under Democratic run presidency to pay for their freebies. Mr. Biden has already proposed significant increases in corporate taxes, income & payroll taxes, small business taxes and dividend taxes to fund their economic agenda! So beware of what you are asking and voting for! Democrats always prefer to have people dependent on government hand-outs at the cost of giving up freedom and equality.

6. So what must Indian American voters do ? As we all know , traditionally , over 80% of Indians vote for Democratic candidates – from Presidential elections to the Town Hall supervisors of their county and towns. A careful analysis reveals that Democratic presidency has invariably been anti India with sanctions and espousing a sanctimonious equivalence between India and her professed enemies. It is a pity that several Indian congressmen in the US Congress have paid worse than lip service by openly supporting enemy agenda on the pretext of that convenient phrase called Human Rights without even bothering to ask those who grease their campaigns about the same violations, if not more , by their donors. We do know that the Democrats and specially Mr. Biden has significant soft corner for the Chinese and Pakistanis ( who gave him a national award) and his foreign policy statements are strongly worded against India’s internal democracy! In addition the party has passed uncalled for resolutions against India’s sovereignty to take parliamentary enactments to set right historical mistakes. That’s not going down well with Indians at large.

7. Finally, as we have talked about Mr. Trump’s accomplishments, let us also briefly dwell upon Mr. Biden’s 47 years in the government as a prominent Senator including eight years as Vice President in a popular administration of President Obama. Thus whenever he complains about the problems plaguing the country whether it’s black lives, social and income inequities, wars and deaths of Americans fighting terrorism, inner cities violence, one is forced to think and ask , what did you do to set things right ? On October 14th, stories are circulating about a Hunter Biden’s computer in hands of FBI with proof of his corruption associated with Burisma, an Ukraine corporation.

Yes , the choice for Indian Americans is very clear in 2020. If they want to endure and live with paying much higher taxes for their well-deserved earnings,  if they wish to live in police defunded cities at the mercy of self-patrolled citizen police, if they want to live under the mercy of Antifa violence and if they believe India deserves a punishment for its supposed HR violations, then your choice is not Trump! We believe that Trump and Republicans are a better choice. 

By Vibhuti Jha, Executive Director & Board of Director, Nalanda International 

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