One of the most obvious effect of Trump’s victory has been to boost the morale of nationalist camps around the World and especially in Europe.
As Donald Trump takes oath on 20th of January, what can we expect from the “Trump era”? What will his policies be?
Economic policy
A reason why the ‘rust belt’- traditional Democratic strongholds, voted for Trump was because of his promise to “bring back lost jobs.” We can be fairly certain that Trump’s economic policy will be protectionist with a “big border tax” on US products into the US, higher tariffs etc. His deal with Carrier has been described as “crony capitalist.” It’s unclear if the jobs will be back and such policies would certainly come in conflict with wealth creation. It could also accelerate automation, which definitely does not bode well for job prospects. But Donald Trump has been able to secure a $50 billion investment from Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son.
Social policy
Immigration was the subject of fierce debate during the election campaign and Trump has been adamant that he would “build a wall and make Mexico pay for it.” Recent reports suggest the groundwork for the wall is already being laid. Trump has adopted a pro-life stand vis-à-vis abortion and has promised that he would repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood; another hotly contested cultural issue. At the federal level, the legal status of abortion will partly depend on who Donald Trump chooses to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Foreign policy
Trump has criticised nation building, especially in the Middle East. His approach has generally been isolationist. This is a welcome departure from the disastrous neoconservative interventionist foreign policy adopted by Bush and Obama. It aided Jihadi forces in Iraq, Libya and Syria. With regards to Syria, Donald Trump has stated that his government would stop aiding the “rebel” forces and work along with the Syrian and Russian government.
More importantly, Donald Trump and his have a favourable civilizational view of Russia. Recently, Trump stressed the need to have a “good relationship with Russia.”
US-India relations
Firstly, India has dodged a bullet with the defeat of Hillary Clinton- somebody with a known anti-India and anti-Modi record.
Republicans tend to be less pro-Pakistan than their Democratic counterparts. Last year, Republican Senator Rand Paul led an unsuccessful bid to block the sale of F-16s to Pakistan. Although Trump’s views on trade have the potential to harm India, from a foreign policy perspective; Trump could be a blessing to India. As early as September 2015, Trump said that India was a check to Pakistan. While we should not expect much fundamental changes, there are enough reasons to believe a Trump presidency aids India.
Domestic Issues
America is already a nation with huge racial faultlines. Extremist movements like Black Lives Matter( BLM) have made matters worse. The primarily White Nationalism driven ideologies- collectively groupes under the category ‘Alt-Right’ is mainly a reaction to Social Justice Warrior(SJW) bullying and blatant minority appeasement carried out by the Obama administration. As America turns more “diverse”, this is bound to have repercussions. Along a White Nationalist/traditionalist and new “anti-political correctness” support camps, Trump’s term could resemble that of Modi so far with frequent squabbles between the two factions.
How will the American liberals come to terms with the Trump era? Their reactions so far have been hysterical and disgusting to say the least. From slut-shaming Melania Trump to speculations about Donald Trump’s ten year old son suffering from autism, Liberals have used the most cringe worthy tactics. This is to be expected from Liberals who will go to any extent to malign their adversaries. Generally, Indian Liberals derive their inspiration and copy the tactics of American Liberals. But this could be one of those occasions where American Liberals take the cue from Indian Liberals and launch a drama similar to award wapsi.