Sunanda K. Datta-Ray | India’s hopes, fears rise as Trump picks ‘dream team’
Thanks to China, India has reason not to be displeased with the initial list of members of US President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet. While Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz, respectively nominated as secretary of state and national security adviser, favour more abiding security ties with India, the highly individualistic new Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, might leaven the President-elect’s grand vision of American might with an element of human concern that has nothing to do with propping up an adversary of China’s.
Florida’s Senator Rubio presided over the 2023 Defence Cooperation Act to widen and deepen the strategic partnership between India and the United States. Mr Waltz is head of the India Caucus in the US Congress. Ms Gabbard, the American Samoa-born daughter of a white American couple from Hawaii who embraced Hinduism and raised their children in the faith, is a lifelong vegetarian. Ms Gabbard swore her oath to enter Congress -- she was then a Democrat -- on a copy of the Bhagavad Gita which she later presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our intelligence community” Mr Trump announced about the 43-year-old first Hindu Congresswoman in the United States. Although with limited experience of intelligence operations, Ms Gabbard brings military experience to the job, having served in the Army National Guard for over two decades with deployments to Iraq and Kuwait.
Meanwhile, “the Great Elon Musk” and “American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy” -- both basking in encomiums bestowed on them by the President-elect -- and heading the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will help Mr Trump to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies” to realise his dreams.
The Office of American Innovation was supposed to do this last time. But no President is omnipotent. Mr Trump will need cooperative colleagues and skilful Speakers to get round the procedural complexities of both chambers to make a success of DOGE.
Even so, in achieving the “America First” agenda, Mr Trump’s “dream team” rooted in personal loyalty, policy alignment, and shared priorities may not please all friends and allies. US trade officials cannot approve of China’s tactic of flooding the world with cheap manufactures. The nomination as attorney-general of the Florida Congressman, Matt Gaetz, who resigned after allegations of misconduct, including paid sex with a minor, which he denies, have shocked even Republicans. India’s unmentioned agenda of sending lakhs of emigrants to grab as many “Green Cards” as they can might feel thwarted by the anti-H-1B Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff for policy, and Tom Homan, the new “border czar”.
Indians who feel victimised can turn to Ms Gabbard who has picked up the cudgels for them more than once in her past career. Shortly after being elected co-chair of the India Caucus in 2017, she talked about how Pakistan continued to allow its territory to be used by terrorists in India, Afghanistan and elsewhere. “In Congress, I’ve worked to cut back US assistance for Pakistan, particularly any military assistance, and increase pressure on Pakistan to stop these dangerous actions and break these ties”, she explained.
The Stop Arming Terrorists Act that she moved in the House of Representatives to end US funding of terrorist groups in Syria and its environs would have ended US funding for countries that back terrorism, such as Pakistan, if passed. Her comments about violence against Indian minorities as well as “the recent rise of violence against Indians, Hindus, Sikhs, and other religious and ethnic minorities” reveal a profound concern for the human condition and an instinctive understanding of the compulsions that inspired India’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
She attacked the Pakistani Army for cruelty against Hindus in 1971, and recently moved a resolution in Congress for the protection of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh after they had suffered repeated atrocities. “In the 115th Congress,” she had promised, “we will continue our work to increase awareness and understanding across our communities, and urge the department of justice to investigate these horrific acts and address the rise of hate crimes across the country.”
Her influence might partly explain Mr Trump’s vocal campaign against the anti-Hindu violence recently in Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina’s ouster. It’s ironic that Bangladesh’s attorney-general, Muhammad Asaduzzaman, should choose this moment to suggest that Bangladesh, with a huge Muslim population (now more than 90 per cent), should become constitutionally a Muslim country. But that is quite another issue.
At a personal level, Marco Rubio’s nomination significantly alters his relationship with Mr Trump. A fierce critic during the 2016 Republican primaries when he famously called today’s President-elect a “con man”, Mr Rubio is now an ally, embracing Mr Trump’s policies on immigration and foreign relations. With his expertise as vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and given his hawkish views on China, Cuba, and Iran, Mr Rubio could play a central role in advancing Mr Trump’s foreign policy goals.
Others of consequence include Fox News’s Pete Hegseth, now nominated secretary of defence, an Army National Guard veteran with combat experience of Iraq and Afghanistan; South Dakota’s plucky governor Kristi Noem who will be secretary of homeland security; and the “tough, smart, innovative, and universally admired and respected” (quoting Mr Trump) Susie Wiles, who refused to implement Covid-19 restrictions, and will be White House chief of staff with a pivotal role in shaping Mr Trump’s foreign policy strategy and overseeing border security.
The two remaining mysteries are the incoming administration’s stand on Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the Israeli belligerence in West Asia. The world is waiting for the President-elect to demonstrate his readiness and ability to bring peace to Ukraine. At the same time, the former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, selected as ambassador to Israel, is a staunch defender of the Zionist state and opponent of a two-state solution, advocating instead de facto Israeli absorption of the entire region.
Mr Trump’s intentions might become clearer when the dark horse in his stable, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, said to be as close to Saudi Arabia’s real ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud, as he is to Zionist extremism, emerges into the light of decision-making. Last time around the OAI under Mr Kushner failed to make much headway. There are fears that DOGE might go the same way. If so, Indian-Americans at least can turn to Tulsi Gabbard. Rules permitting, her native Hawaii’s Aloha spirit won’t let them down.
