US election results and road ahead

US elections have been concluded with victory of Biden and end of Trump's Presidency. The Senate still hangs in the balance and Democrats retain the House with some losses. Its too early to speculate how Biden will govern & what will be the policy of upcoming Administration but departure of Trump is a good outcome. Trump represented dictatorship and destructive populism in America. Trump was a mentally unstable, erratic, incompetent fool who could not deliver on anything. 

Election defeat for Trump but Trumpism still alive & threat of Fascism looms - Priorities for Biden and many challenges ahead - Time to deliver and no time for complacency

Trump's behavior in case of election loss was widely anticipated. He would refuse to concede and paralyze the functioning of government and this scenario is playing out right now. Its pretty obvious by now that Trump & dark forces behind Trump never really cared about elections & legitimacy of rule. They only care about grabbing power & keeping a permanent hold over it. The election defeat doesn't put a lid on Trump & dark forces, so ways need to be found to permanently defeat and dissolve them. I hope Biden has the capability to deal with all this mess because there is no time to rest & taking a break.

These are the important things which Biden needs to start working on immediately.

 

1. Primary task of Biden is to secure his position. The pro Trump forces are weak, wounded and in retreat. Must finish them off or they will strike back later in some other way or form. Biden should pressurize Trump to concede, retire and leave in dignified way. America is facing a pandemic, economic crisis and government paralysis which is aggravated by incompetence of Trump. An early departure of Trump is thus needed to start repairing & restoring normal Government functioning in America. Offer a deal to Trump to send him home early & letting Pence be in charge until January.

2. Crush & neutralize coup plotters, Pro Trump oligarchs and Trump's radical backers. These are the people who organized 2016 election meddling and were preparing for 2020 coup. People like Bill Barr, Rudy Giuliani, Roger Stone, Mercer family, Steve Bannon, Peter Thiel and many others. Also act against Russian lobbyists in America that act as a bridge between Kremlin, Beijing and White House. Prepare task force to investigate & prosecute all crimes & illegal acts of outgoing Trump regime. Trump is dreaming about 2024 campaign run. Never again. A lunatic dictator & demagogue like Trump should never ever be allowed to get into public office & politics.

3. Fire all incompetent stooges appointed by Trump. Replace these people with competent & credible appointments as soon as possible. Positions for Secretary of State, DHS, HHS, Treasury, Federal Reserve chair & board of governors, heads of regulatory authorities like SEC, EPA etc should be filled with competent people. Democrat colleagues like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren & Val Demings should also be given suitable position in cabinet.

4. Prepare sound an effective policy on Covid-19. Pass Covid relief & economic assistance bills pending in Government. Assemble a new Covid task force appointing scientists, Doctors, domain experts & technocrats. Restore Rick Bright to his earlier position in CDC. Stop the lunacy of Herd immunity adopted by Trump regime. Roll back Trump's sabotage of affordable care act & expand the healthcare coverage by public option for medicare available to all Americans.

6. Reorganize foreign policy to counter Chinese aggression. Get back to Iran JCPOA & Paris Climate accord, restore relations with Cuba, strengthen NATO & European relations. Foreign policy reform. No more love & friendship with populist dictators & demagogue like Bolsanaro, Putin, Modi, Erdogan and Boris Johnson. No more love for Kim Jong of DPRK. No more appeasement of China & North Korea. Prepare a new economic & trade policy to counter China's Belt & Road policy and 2025 made in China vision.

7. Start preparing framework to implement Biden plan. Plan for student loan relief, Public option for medicare, Jobs program, Infrastructure plan, national Covid-19 vaccine program and all other things. A large section of population is infected by Trumpism disorder. Thus rehabilitating Americans duped by Trump should also be among the main goals for healthy functioning of Democracy in America. That means principles of economic rights, rising standards of living, a healthy society & expansion of middle class should be the goal to ensure a sound & healthy public participation in politics & voter consciousness. Otherwise a desperate, poor, backward, uneducated electorate will always be prone to be exploited by demagogue like Trump.

Future of Republican Party after Trump defeat - Republican party remains strong and formidable force - The strategy of Republican party will be completely paralyzing the incoming Biden Administration

It was expected that Democrats will win over Senate, expand the lead in House seats & win over Presidency by a very large margin. Unfortunately, the Senate still hangs in the balance & Democrats lost some seats in the House. The strategy of GOP for next four years is quite obvious - paralyzing the legislative branch of government. One of the issues that will be dragged by Republicans for next 4 years in Congress will be vote fraud in 2020 elections. Most likely, Republicans will start witch hunts along these lines as well as lawsuits in courts to cripple the functioning of Biden Administration. 

I think Republican party remains in strong position despite loss of Presidency for three reasons. Firstly, the Republicans didn't loose by overwhelming blue wave as was feared after disastrous 4 years of Trump rule. Secondly, many Republicans are happy to retain a sizable presence in House & Senate and loss of Trump at the same time. Many republicans saw Trump as an albatross around the neck of GOP. And finally, Republicans also have the ammunition to sabotage & paralyze the Biden Administration for next four years by witch hunts of vote frauds & attacking "fake" mail in ballots as reason of defeat. 

For now, you will see that many Republicans supporting the conspiracy theories of Trump on fraud of mail in ballots. Republicans benefit either way. They can attribute these conspiracy theories for their loss and they can sabotage upcoming Biden administration on pretext of rigged elections. What will Trump do and how will he react when he realizes that he has to vacate White House is still an unanswered question. But for now, Republicans are aggravating the mental instability & delusion of Trump by supporting his conspiracy theories. Its also unclear on who will be the next leader of GOP in post Trump era. I don't see Mitt Romney or Jeb Bush rushing to claim their spot by asking Trump to respect the election results. So Trump's whining about the election loss will continue for some time. Of course, the best way to deal with this thing is to somehow pressurize Trump in conceding, accepting defeat and step down in orderly manner. I hope Biden finds a way to do that.

A perspective from India for upcoming Biden Administration - US influence fading away in South East Asia & Middle East due to historic foreign policy blunders in last two decades - US must reorganize foreign policy to deal with China

I don't expect much change in US-India relations under new political government in US. But i hope Biden Administration understands some issues with India. India imports 80% of crude oil from abroad & significant part of this comes from Iran. US should get back to Iran Nuclear deal & stop threats against countries & financial institutions doing Oil trade with Iran. US should also give all exemptions to India on weapons trade with Russia including S-400 Missile defense system. The situation with China is well known and thus US needs to understand Indian requirement of weapons at this critical time.

On economic front, US can help India with Covid-19 pandemic. US pharmaceutical companies have made significant progress in anti-viral drugs and vaccine development. Unfortunately, with all the patent monopolies, these drugs are highly expensive & limited supply in India and vaccines will also remain out of reach for citizens of poor countries like India. This is where US needs to show its support by funding vaccine production & delivery to poor people of countries like India.

US since long has been a force of instability & chaos in SE Asia as well as Middle east. This is a historical trend and not just a problem due to Trump. Afghan War, Iraq War, Arab Spring, withdrawal from JCPOA, Syrian war, US support to Jihadis, trying to reshape middle east & redrawing maps are some of the major debacles of US foreign and defense policy in last two decades.

Chinese expansionism is not just military (boots on the ground) but also economic and financial (Belt & Roads Debt trap policy). In terms of military expansion, China is in territorial dispute with 21 nations in Asia, specially in regard to South China Sea and landlocked border states around China. Belt & Roads is a part of Chinese foreign policy of taking control of Infrastructure and national assets of foreign countries by putting them in unpayable debt. China has also created a network of satellite states & puppets that are being used strategically against China's adversaries. In SE Asia, China is using Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka etc against India. In Asia Pacific, China is using North Korea against South Korea, Japan, US & other smaller countries. China is also building alliances in Europe, Middle East and Africa by Covid diplomacy. Former UK Prime Minister David Cameroon is now an employee of China's Belt & Roads project. UK's departure from European Union is also a step by UK to build strategic alliance with China - the next global superpower that will supersede America.

China is expanding its influence in the world, while America is waning & fading away. Now its time for US to introspect and reform its foreign policy. A critical part of reforming foreign policy is building an alliance of Democratic countries against Chinese expansionism. In Asia pacific, India will be an ally of US. But alliance with India means relationship with Indian State & its people - not with sociopath moronic tinpot dictator Modi. Modi is like the 2nd term of Trump - a dictatorial regime which is destroying & subverting India's economic structure, social fabric of multicultural Indian society, institutional structure (Judiciary, Parliament, federal agencies etc) and even destroying the constitution & co-operative federal structure of India.

One of the main problems with US foreign policy is that US political Govt acts in a knee jerk reaction but never thinks and act long term. For example, in Hong Kong US is critical of Chinese meddling, heavy handed behavior and undermining of one country two system policy. US is also critical of Chinese "concentration camps" of Uighur Muslims, violations of human rights, suppression of free Press and jailing of activists & students. US criticizing China on all these things is good but US doesn't give same attention to very same things that are happening in India. Why is that? A part of the reason is foolish & corrupt Trump regime which is connected to Modi. But a broader part of problem is US doesn't really care about human rights in the first place. Issue of Human rights is just a geopolitical tool that is used by America as per convenience where it deems fit. When it suits America, US shows this extreme superficial concern of human rights, when it its doesn't suit America, human rights don't matter, can be ignored & forgotten.

I would advice US Government to build a good relationship with India but don't get tied up with present prime minister Modi. Modi is like a clone of Trump and you can't build credible partnerships with such characters. So cooperate with Modi Govt in supporting India against Chinese aggression but do not give Modi a free pass on human rights violations, killing of minorities, jailing of opposition political leaders, activists & journalists. In fact Biden Administration should make clear to Modi that if Modi wants any assistance from US to deal with Chinese aggression, Modi should stop acting like a dictator in his own country. US has a lot of leverage which it can exercise to clamp down on Modi's authoritarianism & repression in India. US doesn't have much leverage against China right now but can do a lot in India falling into full fledged dictatorships. I hope one of the lesson US has learned is that its better to deal with Democratic leaderships rather than dictators like Erdogan, Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jon un & others. So don't let India join the list of authoritarian dictatorship nations.