The race for Indian American votes is well underway. The Trump campaign on Saturday released a video that seeks to rally Indian American voters for “4 More Years” for President Donald Trump using clips from the “Howdy Modi” and “Namaste Trump” events that he addressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“America enjoys a great relationship with India and our campaign enjoys great support from Indian Americans!” Kimberly Guilfoyle, national chair of the Trump Victory Finance Committee, wrote in a tweet with the short video, which is headlined “4 More Years”. Donald Trump Jr, president’s eldest son and Guilfoyle’s partner, retweeted the post.
“4 More Years” opens with a panoramic view of the stands of the stadium that hosted the “Howdy Modi” event in September 2019, and the cheering crowds.
The video cuts to PM Modi as he introduces Trump who is standing with him on the stage. “Mr President, you had introduced me to your family in 2017,” Modi says in a clip from the event, and adds, gesturing towards the audience, “And today, I have the honour to introduce you to my family.”
The video then jumps to the “Namaste Trump” event in Ahmedabad, the American leader’s first visit to India, in February. There are shots of Modi and Trump, hugging and then waving to the audience with First Lady Melania Trump.
“America loves India,” Trump says in a clip from the event. “America respects India, and America will always be a faithful and loyal friend to the Indian people.”
The video marks the campaign’s most visible pitch yet to the 1.2 million Indian American voters and comes around the start of the Republican party convention on Monday to officially nominate President Trump for a second term with Mike Pence as his vice-president.
Nikki Haley, the Indian American considered a potential presidential candidate at some time, will bring more firepower as one of the speakers at the convention. The former ambassador to the UN and ex-governor of South Carolina is well regarded in the Indian American community,
The Biden campaign had launched a major outreach to the Indian American community in the run-up to the Democratic party convention to nominate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for president and vice-president respectively.
At a virtual Indian Independence Day celebration, Biden had vowed to stand with India, as he did before. And in an expansive agenda released by the campaign, the nominee had promised to check China’s ‘impunity” along the border and not tolerate cross-border terrorism.
Al Mason, who conceptualized the “4 More Year” video, said, “The video depicts great friendship and love between India- US – cemented by the emotional bond between Prime Minister Modi and President Trump. Trump is much loved by the community.”
Mason leads Trump campaign’s outreach to the Indian American community and is the co-chair of the Trump Victory Indian-American Finance Committee. The video, he added, “will evoke mega support in terms of fund raising at the grass root level and votes for President Trump in battleground states — a must win for Trump”.
Both Trump and Biden are wooing the Indian American with an eye on the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida, which are likely to be won and lost by wafer-thin margins.
