At the White House, it’s all about loving the family
This is a tale of two visits, across a pair of Indian cities, over the past couple of months. In October, US secretary of state Rex Tillerson came visiting and was hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, among a chain of appointments in New Delhi. He spoke of the “broader Indo-Pacific region”, a phrase later appropriated by US President Donald Trump during his nation-hopping tour of Asia last month.
If Trump was paying attention to Tillerson’s trip, that wasn’t quite reflected in his public pronouncements. There may have been another sojourn to Indian shores that was occupying his mindspace: That of White House special adviser, and more importantly, First Daughter Ivanka Trump’s bonhomie in Hyderabad.
In fact, as Trump and Modi met in Manila, the White House press secretary ensured the readout included how the prime minister looked “forward to hosting the United States delegation to the upcoming Global Entrepreneurship Summit, showcasing innovation and collaboration between India and the United States.”
As Ivanka Trump sashayed through the Hyderabad summit, her father was certainly tracking her movements. A series of tweets and retweets appeared on his Twitter feed, even as the White House press secretary, in another readout, gushed over how the “leaders expressed satisfaction” over the meet.
Modi, of course, chatted with Ivanka as she was feted at the tech fest to the chagrin of some, and that may actually be a pragmatic course of action for New Delhi.
Less than a year since the Trump administration came into existence, senior members have changed frequently. Initial interlocutors like original national security advisor General (retd) Michael Flynn, now under indictment, were jettisoned early, the first among a series of departures.
Tillerson, dubbed TRex, could soon be another to join the dinosaurs forced into extinction. While the White House has so far maintained he remains the boss of Foggy Bottom, such pronouncements over others, prior to their exits, don’t portend particularly kindly for his future. Especially since he has offended Trump kin, in this case, sonin-law Jared Kushner, apparently over America’s policy in West Asia, including this week’s decision on shifting the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
As events over this year have shown, no Trump appointee is indispensable. Though that may well exclude the Tweeter-in-chief’s children and his family. Trump is someone with a sense of insecurity, made evident by his self-serving statements as president. With a fragile ego as large as the Oval Office, it’s easy for others to trespass upon it. That often leads to their ousting. But those tied to him with filial strands may be fire-proof. So, even if Tillerson is history next month, Ivanka will endure.
The BJP government at the Centre needs to continue to cultivate the Trumps. And that’s simply because US’ administration is now a family enterprise. Many-a-times when we see something wrong going on or when injustice happening somewhere or when we see rude behaviour, we think that we should not bother about such things and mind our own business. Most of us are taught to react in this manner right from childhood.
Imagine that we are travelling by a rickshaw and the driver is continuously spitting, it is our duty to make him understand that spitting on the road causes various diseases, and in general, it is a bad habit. But, if we think ‘why should we bother?’ then the result could be that we could get infected in one way because of this.
Take another example, where street lights remain switched on even after the sun has come out because the electricity department forgot to switch it off. As a good citizen, we must call and remind the department to switch off the lights, but if we think, ‘why should we bother?’ not only is electricity being wasted, but we will have to suffer power cuts later. Hence, whatever small things we do in life, it helps not only society but it also helps us.
We should think of ourselves as fortunate to help people. We should not confine ourselves to our comfortable lifestyles, but rise to the occasion to help others.