The overall positive momentum in India-U.S. ties will remain unchanged though there could be a difference in approach towards New Delhi between a Trump administration and a Harris government, foreign policy experts said as Americans vote to elect a new President on Tuesday (November 5, 2024).

Democratic leader Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump are locked in a fierce race to occupy the White House as the 47th President of the U.S.

Dhruva Jaishankar, the executive director of the America chapter of the Observer Research Foundation, said the direction of the relationship is expected to be different in areas of trade, energy and immigration.

“For Trump, I think there will be some difficult negotiations over trade and immigration, although on many other issues, he has spoken about a very positive relationship with India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.

Also read: U.S. Elections 2024 voting LIVE

“On the other hand, with Harris, there will be some continuity as what we have seen under the Biden administration in the past four years. But I think there will be more of a progressive agenda and foreign policy, and that may have some implications for the relationship with India,” he said.

Mr. Jaishankar said India-U.S. cooperation in the energy sector would be “big” going forward but explained how there could be a difference in approach by a Harris administration or a Trump dispensation.

“The nature of that would be different under a Republican or a Democratic administration. A Democratic administration would focus more on climate change, renewable energy and clean and green energy,” he said.

“Republicans would focus more on fossil fuel, oil and gas. Either way, I foresee a much closer energy relationship because India and the U.S. are the two largest consumers,” the strategic affairs expert elaborated.

Kapil Sharma, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programmes, said the next American President will have to be friendly with India as he or she will have no choice.

“I think both leaders will have to be friendly (with India). I do not think they have a choice. India will at some point in the next 20-30 years, be the second largest economy in the world. And that is not a country you can ignore.”

“I am not worried about either leader; how they will work towards India. It is about how they handle some of the contentious issues,” said Mr. Sharma, who also has experience on Capitol Hill, coming from the offices of Senator Robert Torricelli and Congressman Frank Pallone.

“But if you think about the ups and downs of the world and the geopolitics of the world over the last couple of years, the relationship did not go off track that it could have done 15-20 years ago,” he said.

The noted foreign policy expert, also serving as principal in Kapstone Strategies, said he was confident that the India-US. ties will flourish irrespective of who becomes President.

“I am not worried about either leader. I am confident that either administration would closely work with India,” he said.

Anang Mittal, a Capitol Hill Veteran who also served as Head of Digital for Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, said Trump could be much friendlier to India than Harris.

“I think it is obvious that the India-US partnership is very strong, and it is going to survive either party coming into power,” he said.

“It is obvious that Donald Trump is going to be much friendlier than the Harris administration,” he added.

On the US presidential race, Mr. Mittal said it was one of the tightest fights that he had seen in decades.

“Kamala Harris seems to have closed the gaps slightly more in terms of her approval rating. Donald Trump has made a historic comeback from the political wilderness as he faced legal troubles last year,” he said.

“Regardless of whether you support him or do not support him, I think Trump has made one of the biggest political comebacks since I would say Richard Nixon in terms of the political struggles that he has had in the last four years,” Mr. Mittal added.

Many of Donald Trump’s supporters left a Michigan rally before he arrived Friday (October 25, 2024) night after the former President kept them waiting for three hours to tape a popular podcast interview.

Those who remained at the outdoor rally on an airport tarmac huddled in the cold as they waited for the former President to touch down in the battleground state.

Mr. Trump apologized to the crowd for the delay, which he blamed on an interview with Joe Rogan, the nation’s most listened-to podcaster and an influential voice with younger male voters Mr. Trump is aggressively courting.

The interview, taped in Austin, Texas, was released Friday (October 25, 2024) night and ran a whopping three hours, with Mr. Trump telling many familiar stories from his rallies and other interviews but also engaging with Mr. Rogan on topics like the existence of UFOs.

Democrat Kamala Harris was also in Texas Friday (October 25, 2024) for an appearance with superstar Beyoncé in Houston at an event highlighting the conservative state’s abortion ban, which was enacted after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Three of the justices who voted to overturn Roe were nominated by Mr. Trump.

Minutes before Mr. Trump’s Michigan rally was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, his spokesman posted on the social media platform X that Mr. Trump was just leaving Texas, more than two hours away by air. Mr. Trump recorded a video from his plane urging his supporters to stay, noting it was Friday (October 25, 2024) night and promising, “We’re going to have a good time tonight.”

Mr. Trump eventually took the stage at the Traverse City airport, where temperatures dipped to about 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). The crowd erupted into cheers as video screens showed Mr. Trump’s plane arriving and then him walking off his plane and down the steps.

“I am so sorry,” he said. “We got so tied up, and I figured you wouldn’t mind too much because we’re trying to win.”

Attendees who hadn’t left bundled up, some covered by blankets, as they waited for him to land. The crowd sounded and looked disengaged as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon tried to kill time onstage. Hats were thrown to attendees.

Among those who stuck around at Mr. Trump’s rally were John and Cheryl Sowash, who live in Traverse City, and arrived at the airport at 4 p.m.

“Things happen,” said Mr. John. “He spoke to a lot more people talking to Joe Rogan than he did here.”

Indeed, Ms. Cheryl said she was worried about Mr. Trump, who had missed speaking to a larger crowd.

“He’s gonna be disappointed, because there were twice as many people here. He missed it,” she said.

His interview with Mr. Rogan created another opportunity for the Republican nominee to highlight the hypermasculine tone that has defined much of his 2024 White House bid. Mr. Trump has made masculinity a central theme of his campaign, appearing on podcasts targeting young male voters and tapping surrogates who sometimes use crude language.

Throughout the lengthy conversation, Mr. Trump told familiar stories but occasionally dropped new color and nuance.

Mr. Rogan pressed Mr. Trump on whether he’s “completely committed” to bringing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. into his administration.

“Oh, I completely am,” Mr. Trump responded, but added he and Mr. Kennedy disagree on environmental policies. He said he’ll tell Kennedy to “focus on health, do whatever you want.”

Mr. Kennedy has been instrumental in spreading scepticism about vaccines, rejecting the overwhelming consensus among scientists that the benefits of inoculation outweigh the rare risk of side effects.

Mr. Trump again seemed to entertain the idea of eliminating federal income taxes, telling Mr. Rogan, “Yeah, sure why not?” when asked by the podcast host if he was serious about it.

He also repeated at length his grievances about the 2020 election but said, “If I win, this will be my last election.”

Mr. Trump said he’s “never been a believer” in theories about extraterrestrial life visiting Earth. He said he is asked constantly about what the U.S. government knows about “the people coming from space.” He said as president he was told “a lot” but he dodged Mr. Rogan’s entreaties to discuss alien life in detail.

And he criticized federal subsidies aiming to significantly boost U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, one of President Joe Biden’s signature achievements. Chipmakers have credited the legislation for enabling billions of dollars in new factories, including in battleground state Arizona.

He also ripped Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that has long been aligned with the U.S.

“You know, Taiwan, they stole our chip business,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Rogan. “OK. They want us to protect and they want protection. They don’t pay us money for the protection, you know? The mob makes you pay money, right?”

Mr. Trump called Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose Beijing government considers Taiwan a breakaway province, a “brilliant guy, whether you like it or not.”

The podcaster is known for his hours-long interviews on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which is listed as No. 1 in the United States, according to Spotify’s charts. He calls women “chicks” and once laughed as a comedian friend described repeatedly coercing young female comics into sex.

Mr. Rogan and Mr. Trump have a complicated relationship. Mr. Rogan had previously said that he declined to host Mr. Trump on his podcast before because he did not want to help him.

Earlier this year, Mr. Trump criticized Mr. Rogan after the podcaster said that Mr. Kennedy, then a candidate, was the only person running for President who made sense to him. Mr. Kennedy has since suspended his bid, endorsed Mr. Trump and joined him on the campaign trail.

In Michigan and at an earlier press conference in Texas, Mr. Trump repeatedly mocked his opponent’s rally in Houston. “Kamala is at a dance party with Beyoncé,” he told the Michigan crowd.

He used his trip to Texas, his second stop in a border state in two days, to escalate his already dark and apocalyptic rhetoric against illegal immigration.

“We’re like a garbage can for the rest of the world to dump the people that they don’t want,” Mr. Trump told supporters Friday (October 25, 2024) in Austin. Mr. Trump has continued to push the unfounded idea that foreign governments actively send criminals to the U.S.

Ms. Harris said the remark is “just another example of how he really belittles our country.”

“The president of the United States should be someone who elevates discourse and talks about the best of who we are, and invests in the best of who we are, not someone like Donald Trump, who is constantly demeaning and belittling who the American people are,” Ms. Harris told reporters in Houston before her event.

As the temperature in Michigan dropped Friday (October 25, 2024) night and many in the crowd streamed out, Mr. Trump suggested that his campaign advisers have urged him not to repeat his past statements about being the “protector” of women.

The former President mimicked advice he said he was getting: “Sir, please don’t say you’re going to protect women.” But he said he planned to keep saying it. “I mean, that’s our job.”

That too was a response of sorts to the Harris event, which was focused on protecting reproductive rights and included a string of women talking about having their health threatened by strict abortion restrictions.

Mr. Trump’s rally was also interrupted twice by audience members needing medical attention. After the second incident, Mr. Trump asked organizers to play the song Ave Maria to fill the time.

That was reminiscent of a recent Trump rally in Pennsylvania when medical attention is required in the audience caused Mr. Trump to sway to that and other songs for nearly 40 minutes.

This time, though, he continued speaking after “Ave Maria” ended.