BackThe Taj Mahal, folk dancers, ‘Hey Jude’: Trump’s 36 hours in India
US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrate their relationship, sidestep trade issues
PremiumNEW DELHI : President Trump’s flight time for his India trip this week will total about 36 hours, a steep trade-off for about the same amount of time in the country. But his diplomatic drop-in was as intense as it was brief, with his hosts providing expansive red-carpet treatment that the president used to celebrate the most politically favorable stretch of his presidency.
“It was a fantastic two days," Mr. Trump said Tuesday at the start of a solo news conference in the Indian capital, using a soft voice, almost a whisper, that he tends to reserve for solemn occasions. “I’m going to be not at all controversial, because I don’t want to blow the two days—plus two days of travel—on one answer, one little answer."
It was an unusual approach for a president who thrives on driving headlines, and often does so—both at home and abroad—by distracting from his own message. He once criticized Britain’s prime minister in an interview that was published just as he was arriving to break bread with her.
“Infrastructure Week" is a running inside joke in Washington because Mr. Trump’s staff’s repeated attempts to focus on efforts to pursue a bipartisan pact to rebuild the nation’s roads, bridges and networks have been derailed by the president’s off-the-cuff remarks and attacks against critics that come to dominate the news cycle.
At the New Delhi news conference, Mr. Trump couldn’t quite deliver on his own promise. He used a question about Harvey Weinstein’s conviction to take a casual swipe at former first lady Michelle Obama. He indirectly acknowledged the existence of a purge list of potential enemies inside his administration. He took aim at a Supreme Court justice.
And he flatly rejected any help from foreign governments in his reelection campaign this year. Taking such a position was common for previous presidents, but Mr. Trump in the past has invited political assistance, even from foreign countries; he told ABC News in June that he’d welcome help from China, Russia or even Norway.
Mr. Trump has been feeling emboldened in the wake of his acquittal in his impeachment trial and amid some of the highest approval ratings of his presidency. He has sought the reassignment or removal of impeachment witnesses and continued to tweet about the conviction of his informal adviser Roger Stone despite complaints from Attorney General William Barr that presidential tweeting about Justice Department issues makes it “impossible" for him to do his job.
Mr. Trump was so delighted by the Democratic primary debate last week —in which the candidates took repeated shots at each other, including former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg —that he invited reporters aboard Air Force One to his private cabin to watch a replay.
Mr. Trump’s momentum was greeted in India on Monday by a splashy, two-day display that combined Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political power with the vibrant sights, sounds and spices of his nation’s culture.
As soon as Mr. Trump arrived in Ahmedabad, in Mr. Modi’s home state of Gujarat in western India, he was welcomed by folk dancers wearing bright yellows, reds and greens, enthusiastic percussionists and energetic flutists.
His 8-mile route from the airport to a 110,000-seat stadium—where a capacity rally crowd awaited him—was lined with thousands of waving and singing Indians and hundreds of giant, custom-printed signs and banners that welcomed Mr. Trump while also obscuring crumbling homes, closed businesses and other signs of economic deprivation. A 7-foot brick wall was built along one stretch of road to shield Mr. Trump’s motorcade from the sight of nearby slums, Reuters reported earlier this month.
Nearly everyone in the stadium wore white “Namaste Trump" baseball caps—India’s version, perhaps, of the MAGA campaign cap. And the familiar classic rock music of Mr. Trump’s domestic political rallies—the Rolling Stones’ “Play With Fire," Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer," The Beatles’ “Hey Jude"—serenaded Mr. Trump not just inside the stadium, but at a business roundtable with Indian executives and at the news conference at his hotel.
Even though Mr. Trump has been to India several times as a businessman, he never visited the majestic Taj Mahal. So Mr. Modi’s government closed it to visitors—a Unesco World Heritage site that attracts 20,000 visitors a day—and rounded up the monkeys that occasionally irritate tourists. A motorcade of electric golf carts ferried the president, his family and his staff—most of whom were also on their first visit—on a sunset tour.
Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, snapped pictures on his iPhone of his wife, Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and also senior adviser, who posted them on Instagram. The president posed for media pictures with first lady Melania Trump and asked reporters for questions, before quickly waving them off—a joke signaling he didn’t want to sully a memorable visit.
On Tuesday, Messrs. Trump and Modi were framed by U.S. and Indian flags outside Hyderabad House, an ornate government building in the capital New Delhi used for diplomatic visits, with blooming marigolds and arching fountains behind them.
The leaders of the world’s two largest democracies spent their Tuesday meeting complimenting each other rather than wading into the sticking points on a far-reaching trade deal that has proven elusive. There was no mention of the deadly clashes in another part of New Delhi over a controversial new citizenship law.
Instead, the two leaders touted a series of smaller agreements, including for Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chart Industries Inc. to improve India’s natural gas network, a $3 billion deal for India to buy military equipment, including helicopters, and nonbinding accords on mental health and promoting access to affordable medications.
While Mr. Trump said the deals were part of the reason he visited, those agreements have been in the works for years. His two days in India will be remembered mostly for the reception Mr. Modi provided him.
“This relationship is the most important partnership of the 21st century," Mr. Modi said Tuesday, adding that it was an “unprecedented and historic visit."
For a president accustomed to red-carpet treatment from his foreign hosts—Saudi Arabia projected his image across five stories of a Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, Beijing invited him to be the first foreign leader to dine in China’s Forbidden City—the lavish attention from Mr. Modi appeared to leave an impression.
Mr. Trump described it as “a profound expression of strength and real love."
He added: “Nobody has ever seen anything like it."
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
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