It is remarkable that the United States, possibly the most diverse nation, is choosing between two old, White men to lead it out of the tailspin that the Coronavirus pandemic has caused. This is a time when the US and the rest of the world need leadership, and if America does not choose wisely, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his lackeys are just waiting in the wings to dictate a new world order. But what is the wise choice? Should the US vote for a man who has been divisive and broken ethical and moral norms, even though he did correctly call out China’s hypocrisy? Or should the US vote for a man who by all accounts is a nice guy, but has clear signs of age-related mental degeneration? Frankly, this is not a choice that the US needed to make; there are far better, healthier and smarter people on both sides of America’s political spectrum. In fact, the 2020 election in the US is possibly a horrible advertisement for democracy, American style. Its electoral system is deeply flawed and while the very basic first past the post system in India and many other nations has its issues, the concept of the electoral college, where a candidate can lose the plurality of the nationwide vote by a massive margin and yet win the right to sit in the White House, is one that the rest of the world finds bizarre. At the same time, the enforced duopoly in the US system has led to extremist views gaining more traction within both parties and although the death of centrism is not only an American phenomenon, it is most starkly experienced in the US where, like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, the Republicans and Democrats have foiled any potential rival from emerging. For a nation that famously “exports” democracy, American democracy is the worst in any large democratic nation.

From an Indian perspective, Trump and the Republicans have usually been kinder towards us since the times of Ronald Reagan although it was Bill Clinton who started to reset the Indo-US relations at the fag end of his term. The Trump administration’s more hawkish view of China has been more than welcomed by the Narendra Modi Government, which had good chemistry with the Democrat President Barack Obama, too. And given the geo-strategic importance India has vis-a-vis China, its vanguard capabilities and Pakistan’s somewhat fall from grace, the Indo-US partnership will not only continue but is expected to become stronger. With India’s growing concern about China’s imperialistic agenda and territorial greed, especially in the border areas and the Indian Ocean Region, the Trump administration has already assigned India an important role in its framework, especially with the free and open Indo-Pacific region. Our Quad initiative, with the US, Japan and Australia, has been activated with Trump’s pressure. This has further laid the basis for defence and security cooperation. On the other hand, India’s economic dependence on the US has increased. For the fiscal year 2019-20, bilateral trade between the two nations stood at $88.75 billion, making the US India’s top trading partner. However, Biden is known to have expressed a softer stance on trade with China. He even hinted at ending the tariffs that Trump had imposed on Chinese imports. So, if Biden is elected, some of the economic gains that India expects might not come true. However, having a Vice-President, who has an Indian heritage and speaks Sanskrit and Tamil, might appear as a plus point. But the Democratic Party has often fallen prey to the wiles of separatist elements and religious freedoms could be on the agenda. However American pragmatism might mean a more nuanced approach to the relationship with India even in a Biden-Harris victory despite Modi personally investing heavily in Donald Trump, although that was before the Chinese contagion ripped the global economy asunder. By the time you read this, voting might have started in several US States, and by all accounts, there is going to be a whole load of chaos across the nation with different States setting different standards for the election with no federal electoral body. Whatever happens, Indian foreign policy objectives might win but the American people will be reminded that they live in a deeply flawed democratic nation.

It is remarkable that the United States, possibly the most diverse nation, is choosing between two old, White men to lead it out of the tailspin that the Coronavirus pandemic has caused. This is a time when the US and the rest of the world need leadership, and if America does not choose wisely, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his lackeys are just waiting in the wings to dictate a new world order. But what is the wise choice? Should the US vote for a man who has been divisive and broken ethical and moral norms, even though he did correctly call out China’s hypocrisy? Or should the US vote for a man who by all accounts is a nice guy, but has clear signs of age-related mental degeneration? Frankly, this is not a choice that the US needed to make; there are far better, healthier and smarter people on both sides of America’s political spectrum. In fact, the 2020 election in the US is possibly a horrible advertisement for democracy, American style. Its electoral system is deeply flawed and while the very basic first past the post system in India and many other nations has its issues, the concept of the electoral college, where a candidate can lose the plurality of the nationwide vote by a massive margin and yet win the right to sit in the White House, is one that the rest of the world finds bizarre. At the same time, the enforced duopoly in the US system has led to extremist views gaining more traction within both parties and although the death of centrism is not only an American phenomenon, it is most starkly experienced in the US where, like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, the Republicans and Democrats have foiled any potential rival from emerging. For a nation that famously “exports” democracy, American democracy is the worst in any large democratic nation.

From an Indian perspective, Trump and the Republicans have usually been kinder towards us since the times of Ronald Reagan although it was Bill Clinton who started to reset the Indo-US relations at the fag end of his term. The Trump administration’s more hawkish view of China has been more than welcomed by the Narendra Modi Government, which had good chemistry with the Democrat President Barack Obama, too. And given the geo-strategic importance India has vis-a-vis China, its vanguard capabilities and Pakistan’s somewhat fall from grace, the Indo-US partnership will not only continue but is expected to become stronger. With India’s growing concern about China’s imperialistic agenda and territorial greed, especially in the border areas and the Indian Ocean Region, the Trump administration has already assigned India an important role in its framework, especially with the free and open Indo-Pacific region. Our Quad initiative, with the US, Japan and Australia, has been activated with Trump’s pressure. This has further laid the basis for defence and security cooperation. On the other hand, India’s economic dependence on the US has increased. For the fiscal year 2019-20, bilateral trade between the two nations stood at $88.75 billion, making the US India’s top trading partner. However, Biden is known to have expressed a softer stance on trade with China. He even hinted at ending the tariffs that Trump had imposed on Chinese imports. So, if Biden is elected, some of the economic gains that India expects might not come true. However, having a Vice-President, who has an Indian heritage and speaks Sanskrit and Tamil, might appear as a plus point. But the Democratic Party has often fallen prey to the wiles of separatist elements and religious freedoms could be on the agenda. However American pragmatism might mean a more nuanced approach to the relationship with India even in a Biden-Harris victory despite Modi personally investing heavily in Donald Trump, although that was before the Chinese contagion ripped the global economy asunder. By the time you read this, voting might have started in several US States, and by all accounts, there is going to be a whole load of chaos across the nation with different States setting different standards for the election with no federal electoral body. Whatever happens, Indian foreign policy objectives might win but the American people will be reminded that they live in a deeply flawed democratic nation.