On Friday night in the US, the second and the last Presidential debate for the upcoming elections took place. Joe Biden and President Donald Trump once again faced each other in the debate.
While the second debate has not turned out to be as scandalous at the first one – thanks to the mute option in the mics – Donald Trump made some scathing remarks that are not sitting well with people belonging to the Indian Community in the USA, and of course, to Indians well.
Speaking about pollution and climate change, Trump said “Look at China, how filthy it is. Look at Russia, look at, India, it’s so filthy, the air is filthy”. He also said that he withdrew the USA from the Paris accords because China and India got better deals.
Reacting to Trump’s statements, many have responded on social media, stating that the President has once again proved his hatred towards South Asians, and has proved that this is something that will never change about him. Trump is already lagging behind Joe Biden by a great margin, and with these remarks, he would now lose the votes of even those who are directly affected by his statements, in case they had any intention of voting for him.
On the other hand, Trump’s statements are especially ill-timed, given that his secretary of state and defence are headed to India next week to meet with their Indian counterparts, to discuss the national security strategy in the Indo-Pacific. Secretaries of state and defence, Mike Pompeo and Mark Esper, are scheduled to reach New Delhi on Monday, and meet their respective counterparts S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
With Trump’s scathing remarks against India, it is now to be seen what sort of action PM Modi will take, or if he will let this go by, given that the elections in the US are just 12 days away, and Trump looks like he may not have the edge this time.