WASHINGTON D.C.: Much depends on the outcome of the 2024 election for India, the U.S. and all our partners and allies in the titanic struggle against the PRC.
The U.S. presidential election of 2024 is an odd one for America. Nothing like this has ever been experienced in American political history. Given that Americans are nonplussed, it is understandable that Indian citizens likely share in that confusion. What has happened thus far reveals how strange, and dangerous, the 2024 election has been and portends to be.
First, President Biden was the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate until he was not. His disastrous performance in the presidential debate in June, before either candidate was officially their party’s nominee, led to his “decision” to leave the race. It is clear now that Biden did not want to step aside. He was forced out at the insistence of major Democrat party figures like Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Hollywood and Silicon Valley donors that demanded that he do so. Incredibly, before that action, the American people were assured that President Biden was fit and healthy—despite what Americans and the world could see with their own eyes—until he was not.
Second, in July the next major event that illuminated this quixotic election year was the failed assassination attempt against former President Trump. This despicable event was shocking and naturally energized Trump supporters, but more importantly and incredibly impacted independent voters—those not formally tied to one of the two major political parties, but who play an exaggerated role in American politics, often tipping the balance to one candidate—to vote for Trump. Yet, for much of the American media, this event has been, as Orwell described, memory holed. While it was mentioned by President Trump in the recent debate, as an attempt to start a consideration that he took a bullet for democracy, he was immediately and abruptly cut off by one of the moderators in order to avoid attention to the issue—an unambiguous form of censorship directed by a corrupt media.
Third, the anointment of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential candidate was the next major event of this disturbing electoral cycle. She has never received a single vote from a Democratic primary voter—unprecedented in modern American political history. Nonetheless she is the Democratic Party’s candidate for President because she was installed by the dominant figures in the party, especially Obama and Pelosi. Their concerns with Biden were myriad, but one of the most pressing was that Biden was a negative factor in “down ballot” races, that is, the unpopular Biden would depress the Democratic vote and so hurt Democratic candidates running for other federal, State, or local offices.
Fourth, the debate between Harris and Trump on 10 September was equally bizarre. As with the June debate, which had never been held this early in the electoral calendar, the consequence of this debate, held 55 days before the election, are unlikely to have an impact on the final election two months hence. As of this writing, it appears there will be only one debate between the presidential candidates, while there are typically two or three, with one debate between the Vice-Presidential candidates.
In this case, Democratic Tim Walz, the Governor of the State of Minnesota and Republican J.D. Vance, a Senator from Ohio. While in the case of the single Vice-Presidential debate, the norm for American politics, this event may take on more attention by the mainstream media. Yet, ultimately it is unlikely to be a determinative factor in the race.
Fifth, there is a palpable concern among Americans that the worst has not happened yet. Given the bizarre, twisted road of this election year, there is concern that in the almost two months before the election another adverse event, in addition to the attempted assassination attempt, will occur.
This might include additional assassination attempts, terror attacks against the American people, or cyber and physical attacks against the country’s infrastructure, or even war. That might include the escalation of war in Ukraine, the initiation of aggressive actions of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) against the Philippines in the South China Sea, against Taiwan or as is very possible against India as we are seeing even today.
In sum, there has never been an election year like this one in the 248-year history of the United States of America.
Its quixotic nature is not an accident but is a consequence of great changes in American politics, particularly in the Democratic party. For Indian audiences, this suggests that American politics is undergoing a fundamental transformation, as Obama famously called for in 2008, that is indicative of a larger change which adversely impacts the nature of the culture, economy, politics, and society of the United States. This is what the Democratic party is pushing in the U.S., a clear and unambiguous anti-democratic move towards single political party rule. If allowed to occur it would turn the U.S. from being a vibrant Constitutional Republic to a sclerotic and moribund single-party state as a way point in its ever-quickening decline to totalitarianism—as the world witnesses in the PRC, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.The 2024 U.S. presidential election cycle has been outside the bounds of normalcy. No matter the victor, it portends to be a transformative election. If Trump wins, there is the possibility of energizing the U.S. electorate—as Ronald Reagan did in 1980.
Reagan’s victory was a fillip to the American people, America’s allies, and the world, as it was instrumental to defeating the Soviet Union and its vision of a totalitarian, one-party global world. Which is why a Harris victory in the election of 2024 will likely be the last competitive election in U.S. history. Harris will continue Biden’s engagement policies with the PRC and so help the PRC continue its aggression and weather its economic downturn.
The U.S. would be forever captured by pro-PRC engagement policies. Thus, the Biden administration’s “cold shoulder” towards India would continue, preventing the natural partnership between the free people of India and America. Thus, much depends on the outcome of the 2024 election for India, the U.S. and all our partners and allies in the titanic struggle against the PRC.The message to be taken from by Indians from this analysis and assessment is that there are Americans who fundamentally understand, accept and desire to restore the bond of trust and friendship between Indians and Americans who desire to remain free from the Chinese Communist Party and those who support their evil ideology.
James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer are authors of “Embracing Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure.”