What Greatness Will Donald Trump Bring To America, And Its Ties With India?

Donald Trump’s victory was not a surprise.

And its core campaign proposition, including on all the red hats, was to make America great again.

Many non-Americans and Americans associate the term greatness with economic achievement, prosperity, well-paying jobs, success and the American dream.

For Trump, then and now, greatness has not been so much economic as it has been social. us-At a victory speech delivered on Wednesday morning India time in Florida, the issue he first touched upon was immigration.

Not surprisingly, since the issue of illegal immigration figured prominently in the campaign trail and was amplified by Elon Musk and his social platform, X. Whether or not the Democrats under Joe Biden did anything in the context of immigration isn’t relevant here as Trump has owned this issue since 2016.

America Was Already Great

The Economist argued a week ago that a country like the United States, with a per capita income of $85,000 per annum, does not need to be made great, it is already great. If greatness were to be defined by economic value, that is absolutely true — a reminder India has a per capita income of $2,500 per annum though on purchasing power parity things might look better.

The Wall Street Journal pointed out last week that the US was now outrunning every major developed economy, not to mention its own historical growth rate.

More impressive than the rate of growth is its quality because it did not come from inflation-inducing squeeze on labour and other resources but rather from making people and businesses more productive, the Wall Street Journal highlighted.

The only economic factor that clearly weighed on many Americans was inflation which has been running high and hitting items of daily consumption, apart from other non-discretionary items.

While inflation could have played a strong role, it is also more of a post-Covid phenomenon and was not really an issue in Trump’s earlier messaging in the run-up to his previous stint.

The question then is how does the term greatness resonate with young voters, new voters and the rest including disaffected young males who voted for Trump, whether from his traditional base or otherwise.

What’s Trump’s Positioning?

For Trump’s campaign positioning then and now, “greatness” meant going back to a pre-existing situation rather than looking forward. The slogan says it all: ‘Make America Great Again’.

The word ‘again’ refers to a point in the past where things were great.

Is that greatness economic and thus prosperity, pride, joy, low inflationary environment or something else? Or is it the altering structure of the populace thanks to heightened immigration, including illegal which has clearly riled up many people, including Trump and his key allies?

What does Trump’s victory mean to us in India then?

Partly it will include the old — a time where immigrating to the US was tough, where only the best and brightest as we know could make it there.

These are the immigrants, Trump and Musk — it might be easier to think of them jointly for some time — want.

The new part would be tariffs, including bringing manufacturing back, putting America First and thus creating more local jobs. This was a stated objective in Trump’s 2016 campaign rallies and continues to be so, with the added factor and threat of slapping high import tariffs on China and lower tariffs on other countries.

This was also the area where Trump linked clearly with now vice president JD Vance. Vance’s book Hillybilly Elegy, written in June 2016, highlighted the plight of mostly white American communities that experienced job losses and social tensions, particularly in the midwest part of the country.

It is not clear where Musk fits into this puzzle. Remember the largest Tesla factory sits in Shanghai, China and not in the US which has the second largest factory, followed by Germany. While these factories manufacture for domestic markets and do not seem to be exporting back to America, there is an interconnectedness that is tough to break.

India is on a different economic spectrum. For India, greatness can only mean higher prosperity and growth. This is mathematical and not political, given our current per capita GDP and the fact that we have hundreds of millions of aspirations that need to be fulfilled.

It is tempting to revert to a bygone era or some period where things were better than they are today. Politicians will always attempt this, possibly even with some success. But India’s aspirations will largely be and should be economic, greatness linked to prosperity, better quality of life, education for children and a roof over the head that you can call your own.

Greatness as a societal value linked to families, relationships and social capital is something India always had in abundance.