On the 21st of January 2025, President-elect Donald Trump will take the oath of office of the US presidency amid glitter and pageantry. He has invited many world leaders to attend, and some undoubtedly will, including Joe Biden, the outgoing president. This differs from the inauguration ceremony four years ago when Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president. Trump did not accept the election results and left Washington in a huff. The 2024 election results were unexpected. All opinion polls showed that Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump ran a close race. Following Biden's withdrawal, Harris had had only months to set up her election machine, recruit workers, and raise funds to finance her campaign. Although she lost, she did very well.
In normal circumstances, Trump would be considered a flawed candidate. Against all evidence, he had refused to accept the election results, mobilised and sent an armed, unruly mob of his supporters to attack the US Congress, temporarily preventing the members from certifying the results of the elections, a constitutional requirement. There were salacious stories as he was accused by numerous women of molestation and taking sexual liberties with them. Trump was impeached twice by Congress for abuse of power and inciting an insurrection. The motion, however, failed in the Senate. Nevertheless, none of his flaws adversely impacted his popularity with his followers.
On election night, it became clear that Harris was not doing well. The final results were devastating for the Democratic Party, which lost its majority in the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Presidency. What happened? Trump borrowed pages from Indian Prime Minister Modi’s playbook. He succeeded in raising fears among most Whites, especially males, about their demographics, survival of their culture, and ethnicity. He stoked fears that Hispanics from South America illegally crossing the US border in millions were mainly criminals, gangsters, and mental patients and were likely to overwhelm the country. Although the US economy is one of the strongest in the world, he falsely claimed that prices were high and hurting ordinary people. He blamed Biden for policies that caused the rise in prices and the so-called immigrant crisis. Harris could not dissociate herself from Biden’s perceived flaws.
The US Government structure has three pillars: the presidency, the two houses of Congress, and the judiciary or Supreme Court. In the future, all three branches will be under the control of Trump’s Republican Party. The Supreme Court has a conservative majority, with three of the judges previously selected by Trump and two others already seated at the beginning of his previous presidency. Thus, the system of checks and balances envisioned by the Constitution's framers no longer exists, and Trump can enjoy unrestrained power.
Currently, the political environment in this country is somewhat intimidating. It is hard to find any voices in the media, print or electronic, opposing Trump and his policies. The vaunted Washington Post virtually brought down Nixon's presidency in the 1970s but did not endorse Harris. Its owner Jeff Bezos, a billionaire, has broad business interests and could not afford to displease Trump. Save a few brave Senators and Congressmen, none are raising voices against the incoming administration. Since his election, a spectacle has been unfolding, as an unending parade of billionaires is visiting his palatial mansion in Florida to express their fealty.
The closeness and loyalty of some second-generation Indian-American Hindus to Trump is fascinating
The concern of those who opposed Trump is not entirely unjustified. Using the FBI, Trump is threatening to send to jail all those Congressmen who testified in and organised the two impeachment trials against him. He has successfully sued a well-known journalist, George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, for defamation and received 15 million dollars. The former chairman of the joint chief of staff, General Mark Millie, and the world-renowned health scientist Dr Anthony Fauci, among others, are in his line of fire. In any democracy, especially a well-established one, reprisals against political opponents would be unthinkable and is unprecedented in the US. As promised, Trump is also planning to deport millions of illegal immigrants, many of whom came here as children, have grown to be adults, and have no other country to go to.
As president-elect, Trump is now making top appointments of individuals to serve in his cabinet. Many have already been named to fill in the cabinet slots. One defining feature in all cases is the unquestioning loyalty of the nominees to him personally. Most are billionaires. Often, they have been selected to head institutions whose mission they have vehemently decried. Robert F Kennedy Jr, the nephew of America’s 35th President, has been nominated as secretary of Health and Human Services, whose mission is to promote the nation's health. Paradoxically, Kennedy has been preaching the abolition of vaccines, especially against polio. He promotes the unfounded theory that vaccines cause autism in children. If implemented, the move will nullify a century of progress in preventive medical science. The Justice Department, which enforces law and order and has operated independently of presidential authority, will be headed by a Trump loyalist, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. She has defended Trump in some legal cases and is known for rejecting the results of the last presidential elections.
The closeness and loyalty of some second-generation Indian-American Hindus to Trump is fascinating. Kash Patel has been a Trump devotee for a long time and has now been nominated as director of the FBI, which investigates and captures criminals. He is so antagonistic to the agency that he plans to close its central office in Washington and convert it into a museum. He has a list of people who displeased Trump and whom he would put on trial. Another wealthy Indian-American is Vivek Ramaswamy, who is slated to join another billionaire, Elon Musk, to reform the Civil Service. The pair threatens to fire a hundred thousand employees, abolish some departments, and relocate many employees to far-off locations. Musk shadows Trump everywhere and appears to have enormous influence over him. Another Trump loyalist and conservative is Harmeet Dhillon, of Panjabi Indian-Sikh descent, who is nominated to run the Justice Department. Of course, the incoming Second Lady, the wife of the vice president Vance, is Usha Vance, a highly accomplished lawyer. Regretfully, no Muslim is in a visible position in the Trump cabinet.
American Muslims and Arabs are anxiously waiting to see what the policies of the new administration will be toward the beleaguered Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere. The current president, Joe Biden, an avowed Zionist, enabled Israel to perpetrate genocide and starvation in Gaza, and devastate southern Lebanon by providing an unlimited amount of money and weapons of mass destruction to Israel. Would Trump restrain Israel’s rogue behaviour? Based on his policies during the first term of unreserved support for Israel, the answer must be no. Unfortunately, the weakness and disarray of the Muslim/Arab countries offer tempting opportunities for predatory countries like Israel to take advantage, as we see today.