The battle lines are nearly drawn with the Republicans formalising their presidential ticket with Mr Donald Trump and his former critic J.D. Vance. And the Democrats are hurrying up to make formal the Mr Joe Biden-Ms Kamala Harris ticket before critics of gerontocracy can gather more voice by carping at the incumbent’s 81 years, which in the US President’s case is not just a number.
The fact is the presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump has moved swiftly into pole position for taking the White House after an assassin’s bullet missed him by a fraction of an inch, which event might have rendered the combative, obstreperous Mr Trump a shoo-in for the top American and, presumably, the world’s most responsible job.
Mr Vance may have stolen the privilege of being the vice-presidential pick from among many, but other Republican critics like Nikki Haley have also swung around to the view that making America great again and making it safer in November is their sacred duty now. How a gun-loving political party can ever secure a country with its Second Amendment guarantee is anyone’s guess.
Representative of the legerdemain of political gymnastics in the United States’ two-party system, his former acerbic critic Mr Vance, who once called him “America’s Hitler”, is not only a running mate but also torch-bearer who will carry forward the Trumpian dicta of nationalistic populism and “America First”.
Mr Vance’s pedigree for a high political office may have been well served with a grandmother who was said to have owned 27 or so handguns, and who himself served in the Marines. That his wife Usha Chilikuri Vance was a Democrat and a Hindu with roots in Andhra Pradesh, but with what is considered an advantage in the United States of being a child of immigrants, may also suit this grand Republican push for a colour change from Blue to Red.
Of interest to India is another child of American immigrants, the incumbent vice-president, Kamala Harris, with her maternal roots in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, is looking for another term with her boss Joe Biden who she has served well with, principally, loyalty. The social media may think this is some south Indian power battle, but it is just a diversion from issues of great import hanging on this seriously consequential election, both for America and the world.
