U.S. President Donald Trump.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a rally ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration on January 19, 2025, in Washington.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump used one last rally on the eve of his inauguration to again celebrate his election victory, declaring Sunday “We won” to a crowd celebrating his return to the White House and projecting defiant optimism despite deep national political divisions.

Also read | Inauguration Day, Trump-style: What will happen?

“Tomorrow, at noon, the curtain closes on four long years of American decline, and we begin a brand-new day of American strength and prosperity, dignity and pride,” Mr. Trump told his supporters, adding, “We not only won a mandate, but we built a new American majority that will lead our country to success for generations to come.”

Supporters filled nearly all of the 20,000-plus-seat Capital One Arena to hear a performance by Kid Rock, who performed “All Summer Long” despite a cold mix of rain and snow falling outside.

Others taking the stage included singer Lee Greenwood, whose “God Bless the USA” was the anthem of Mr. Trump’s reeelection campaign.

“Our hero. A man who never gave up on the American people, and we the people never gave up on him,” actor Jon Voight told the crowd.

Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s pick to be deputy chief of staff and a key architect of the administration’s promised hard-line immigration polices, vowed that “justice is coming”.

“We are about to get our country back and our democracy back,” Mr. Miller said, adding, “Donald J. Trump is about to save this country.”

Donald Trump has promised to sign a series of executive actions, including on U.S.-Mexico border policy.

Sunday was his first full day back in Washington and gave the president-elect a chance to energise core supporters before the official pomp of Inauguration Day.

Mr. Trump had breakfast privately with Republican senators at Blair House, the president’s official guest residence, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House and later posed for a picture with the 10 Republican female senators and his incoming chief-of-staff, Susie Wiles.

Unlike when Mr. Trump helped spark a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol and tried to retain power in 2021 after his loss to Democrat Joe Biden, officials did not expect massive protests, unrest or violence.

Instead, jubilant crowds celebrated Mr. Trump’s second term and MAGA’s total control of the Republican Party.

Many arrived from around the country and were decked out in their fanciest clothes, including fur coats.

Trump supporters filled parties at hotels and restaurants around Washington. As they moved between the festivities, some could be heard chanting “MAGA” or simply stating it as a greeting to fellow revellers.

The atmosphere was a remarkable turnaround from four years ago, when Mr. Trump left the nation’s capital in disgrace and skipped the inauguration of his successor Biden.

President-elect Donald Trump consulted privately with Republican senators on Sunday (January 19, 2025) before heading off to a series of events designed to celebrate his return to power and the “Make America Great Again” movement, despite deep national political divisions on the eve of his inauguration.

The private meeting featured a breakfast at Blair House, the president’s official guest residence, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, and gave top GOP leaders a chance to lay last-minute plans barely 24 hours before Mr. Trump moves back into the White House.

Meanwhile, Trump supporters, many arriving from around the country and decked out in their fanciest clothes, including fur coats, filled parties — both formal and informal — at hotels and restaurants close to the White House. As they moved between the festivities, some could be heard chanting “MAGA” or simply stating it as a greeting to fellow revelers.

Sunday is Trump’s first full day back in Washington since his election victory and gives him a chance to fire up his core supporters before the official pomp of Inauguration Day, including the swearing-in at noon.

Also read | Trump would have been convicted if he wasn’t elected: U.S. Justice Department in special counsel report

The nation’s capital has prepared in unprecedented ways to keep the events safe and secure. But unlike when Mr. Trump helped spark a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol and tried to retain power in 2021 after his loss to Democrat Joe Biden, officials are not expecting massive protests, unrest or violence. Instead, the city is braced for crowds celebrating Trump’s second term and MAGA’s total control of the Republican Party.

It is a remarkable turnaround from four years ago, when Mr. Trump left the nation’s capital in disgrace and skipped the inauguration of his successor. He blasted his way through the 2024 GOP presidential primary and won in November with an Electoral College margin unseen since Barack Obama was reelected in 2012.

Yet even with that comfortable victory and his party in full — albeit narrow — control of Congress, the incoming president remains one of the most polarizing figures in U.S. history, with nearly as many fierce detractors as ardent supporters. That means it could be difficult for Trump to fulfill postelection pledges to promote bipartisanship while healing political differences.

The president-elect has insisted that unity will be a theme of his inauguration speech Monday, along with strength and fairness, but he also spent months as a candidate saying that if elected he would seek retribution against political enemies.

Also read | Thousands protest in Washington DC against Donald Trump ahead of inauguration

“January 20th cannot come fast enough!,” Mr. Trump posted on his social media site. “Everybody, even those that initially opposed a Victory by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Administration, just want it to happen.”

With frigid temperatures expected Monday, Mr. Trump directed his oath of office and most of Monday’s outdoor events to be moved indoors. Officials held a rehearsal Sunday inside the U.S. Capitol. But because the Rotunda holds only 600 people, it was unclear if the 250,000-plus guests who had tickets to view the inauguration from around the Capitol grounds would have any opportunity to watch.

Large viewing screens that were erected around the National Mall were taken down, although Trump said there would be word on alternative, indoor locations for viewing the ceremonies. The traditional parade was to be held, in some form, at Capital One Arena, home to Washington’s pro basketball and hockey teams and where Trump was planning to address a MAGA rally later Sunday.

Meanwhile, national and global events drew some of Trump’s attention Sunday. He took to his social media site to comment on the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the U.S. ban on TikTok.

“Hostages starting to come out today! Three wonderful young women will be first,” Mr. Trump wrote.

Overnight, millions of U.S. users of TikTok lost the ability to watch videos on the social media platform as a federal ban on the app took effect. Though the site later began flickering to life for some users, the disruptions reflected a new law requiring its China-based parent company, ByteDance, to divest for national security reasons.

The company made a personal appeal to Mr. Trump to intervene, posting a message saying, “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.”

Mr. Trump subsequently posted, “I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark!” He promised to issue an executive order Monday “to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.”

The president-elect also wrote that he was interested in the U.S. owning 50% of TikTok in a “joint venture” model, though he did not offer much detail on what that would look like. Incoming national security adviser Michael Waltz insisted that Trump could find a solution by Monday.

“I think we should all be confident that he can craft that kind of a deal,” Mr. Waltz told CBS’ ”Face the Nation.” He also noted that Mr. Trump discussed TikTok on a weekend call with Chinese President Xi Jinping and they “agreed to work together on this.”

“What we need between now and Monday is to buy the president some time to evaluate those deals,” Mr. Waltz said. “And if it goes dark, that’s going to be, obviously, extremely problematic.”

After meeting with senators, Mr. Trump headed to snow-covered graves at Arlington National Cemetery, where he and Vice President-elect JD Vance — each wearing dark overcoats and red ties — walked together to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for a wreath-laying ceremony that included the playing of taps. Trump mouthed “thank you” after placing the wreath.

The ceremony was also attended by his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., his daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, and other relatives.

Many of Mr. Trump’s picks for the incoming administration’s Cabinet also stood quietly by. They included his choice for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio and Tulsi Gabbard, the choice for director of national intelligence, as well as Mr. Trump’s announced ambassador to the United Nations, Elise Stefanik. Several medal of honor recipients were also there, wearing their medals.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance later spent nearly half an hour in Section 60, the burial site for military personnel killed while fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, talking with families of three soldiers who died in the 2021 Kabul airport bombing, as well as a fourth whom they did not identify.

The scene was far different than in August, when two Trump campaign staff members reportedly verbally “abused and pushed” aside a cemetery official who tried to stop them from filming and photographing in Section 60.

Pope Francis leads the Angelus prayer from his window at the Vatican, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, on January 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Pope Francis on Sunday (January 19, 2025) said U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s promised large-scale deportation operation of undocumented migrants would be “a calamity”.

Mr. Trump, who returns to the White House on Monday, has pledged to take a hardline stance against an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States.

“If it is true, it will be a calamity, because it makes the poor wretches who have nothing pay”, said the Pope during an interview with Italian television channel Nove.

The Republican billionaire has vowed to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history,” though any deportation program will face legal challenges, as well as potential refusals by some countries to accept deportees.

The Pope, who received Mr. Trump at the Vatican during his first term in the White House in 2017 for a half-hour meeting, has criticised him for his anti-migrant policies in the past.

Also read | Thousands protest in Washington DC against Donald Trump ahead of inauguration

In February 2016, when asked about the then-U.S. presidential hopeful’s anti-immigration stance, he said: “Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian”.

And last year the Argentine Jesuit made a rare foray into the U.S. election season to call harsh anti-migrant attitudes “madness” and criticise right-wing US Catholic figures for overly conservative stances.

Mr. Trump, 78, has also vowed to end birthright citizenship, calling it “ridiculous”, though it is guaranteed by the U.S. constitution.

Analysts also expect him to issue executive orders on other aspects of immigration policy, and he is weighing declaring a national emergency, which would allow him to unlock Pentagon resources.

Washington:

Outgoing US President Joe Biden on Friday said that he would have defeated Republican Donald Trump in the 2024 US presidential elections, but he decided to withdraw from the race mid-way for the sake of the unity of his Democratic Party.

During a press conference at the White House, he was asked by a journalist, “Mr President, do you regret your decision to not run for re-election? Do you think that that made it easier for your predecessor to now become your successor?”.

“I don’t think so. I think I would have beaten Trump, could have beaten Trump and I think that Kamala (Harris) could have beaten Trump, would have beaten Trump,” Mr Biden responded.

“It wasn’t about – I thought it was important to unify the party and when the party was worried about whether or not I was going to be able to move even though I thought I could win again, I thought it was better to unify the party,” he added.

He also said it was the “greatest honour” of his life to be the US president.

“But I didn’t want to be the one who caused a party that wasn’t unified to lose an election. And that’s why I stepped aside. But I was confident she could win,” he said.

The 82-year-old leader withdrew from the US Presidential race against Donald Trump after his disastrous performance at the presidential debate in June.

Following a lot of criticism from his own party leaders, Mr Biden decided to withdraw from the race mid-way and endorsed his running mate Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.

Ms Harris, however, lost to Mr Trump and the November 5 elections resulted in a clean sweep for the Republican Party, which not only recaptured the White House, maintained its majority in the House of Representatives but also got a majority in the Senate.

‘Kamala Harris Competent To Run Again In Four Years’

Joe Biden said Kamala Harris is “competent” to run for the presidency again in four years, adding that the decision on this would finally be on her.

“I think that’s a decision she might think she’s competent to run again in four years. That’ll be a decision for her to make,” he told reporters.

Mr Biden made history in 2020 by appointing Ms Harris as the first ever Indian American, African American and woman as the Vice President of the US.

Mr Biden will also give a televised farewell address to the nation on January 15, five days before Donald Trump returns to power.

A voter deposits his voting machine activation card in a box after casting his ballot at a polling site at Henderson City Hall in Henderson, Nevada on November 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Donald Trump has returned to power in the United States following a decisive win in both the popular vote and electoral college vote in the presidential elections. This emphatic win made it easy for journalists to cover the results. It was clear fairly early during the counting process that Mr. Trump was going to win the election and also sweep the ‘swing States’.

This is in marked contrast to the 2020 election, which was full of controversies, both manufactured and real. A staggering number of Americans cast their ballots before voting day in that election, held during the COVID-19 pandemic; this stretched the counting process by days. Mr. Trump lost, but refused to concede the election to Joe Biden. The results were much closer than what the opinion polls had anticipated. The slow counting process strained the coverage.

In the U.S., on counting day, data is provided by the news agency, Associated Press (AP), and a few others. This means that the result is “called” by media outlets, which estimate the chances of a candidate winning a State based on trends that are available from this data. While the U.S. Federal Election Commission monitors implementation of campaign finance laws and the conduct of federal elections, it does not provide live electoral data. This is either collated by agencies such as AP, and released to subscribers via an Application Programming Interface, or is provided by each respective State, mostly by their Secretaries of State.

This is unlike the process in India, where the Election Commission of India (ECI) provides live counting data for each constituency, whether Assembly or parliamentary. Media outlets, especially television journalists, also use agencies or their own reporters to provide information on trends from counting centres. However, these are not always accurate. The slower and steadier trends that trickle in from the ECI website, which are authenticated by polling agents at counting centres, give media outlets and the general public a clear picture on electoral trends. The structured manner in which the ECI presents its results also helps media outlets and data enthusiasts, such as those in The Hindu, to parse that information and present it separately with more granular information. This includes, for instance, data on rural and urban voting trends across States.

While U.S. news agencies and media outlets are efficient in presenting results, the situation in India is different: the information is not available to only a select few outlets, and is collated and displayed in a structured manner by the ECI for anyone to use. The ECI also presents ‘deep-dive data’ — for instance, information from polling booths on how voters choose their candidates. It also provides Assembly segment-wise data for parliamentary constituencies. While this information is uploaded onto the website after a lag — it can take a few weeks after results are announced — the fact that it is made available is useful for social scientists and journalists to analyse the results even further, long after the excitement over elections dies down.

For a data journalist, the Indian model of providing electoral results via a public authority works much better than the American one. In recent years, the ECI has received a lot of flak for various issues, such as the robustness of the Electronic Voting Machines (an overblown controversy), the patchy implementation of the Model Code of Conduct (a legitimate criticism), the dilation of the voting process in some States (unavoidable in a few cases), and the relative laxity in regulating campaign expenditure (which is becoming a problem). But what must be appreciated by publicly minded people in India is that the ECI releases structured voting data in a transparent, timely, and efficient manner.

srinivasan.vr@thehindu.co.in

Following Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections, a new trend has emerged on social media platforms called the ‘MATGA movement’. The ‘Make Aqua Tofana Great Again’ or ‘MATGA’ movement hits out at Donald Trump’s popular ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) slogan. In this movement, US women are filming murder-fantasy videos in which they lace men’s drinks with deadly poison. Notably, the movement is a nod to ancient killer Giulia Tofana – a 17th-century Italian woman who sold Aqua Tofana poison to women who wanted to murder their husbands because of violence at home.

According to Newsweek, social media videos related to this trend show young women smiling as they add unknown substances to drinks. Some clips also show women advertising poison rings that can be worn on fingers. 

HOLY SH*T, Karens lost their fvcking minds over Trump’s win and launched MATGA—short for Make Aqua Tofana Great Again.

Aqua Tofana was a powerful poison in 17th-century Sicily, sold by women to other women seeking to escape abusive relationships by discreetly poisoning their… pic.twitter.com/KvHK8ZXWz4

— I Meme Therefore I Am (@ImMeme0) November 10, 2024

MATGA movement owes most of its development to Giulia Tofana. Her invention, the famous Aqua Tofana poison, was a deadly, undetectable poison used across Italy, gaining notoriety for its stealth and potency. The poison was typically concealed in everyday cosmetic containers, allowing unsuspecting husbands to remain oblivious to their approaching demise. 

Therefore, the MATGA trend has become synonymous with Tofana. This movement comes after misogynistic phrases like “Your body, my choice” went viral online following Mr Trump’s presidential win with men messaging random women online threatening them that their bodies no longer belong to them. So, the MATGA movement seems to be in response to this rising misogynistic hate. 

Some people online have framed this latest movement as a modern-day reminder of the long-standing fight for women’s rights. However, according to Newsweek, critics have argued that referring to a deadly poison, even in jest, can send the wrong message. 

Also Read | Here’s How Indians Reacted To Elon Musk’s Comments On Canada PM Justin Trudeau

One TikToker urged women who are taking part in “MATGA” to think about the consequences of poisoning people. “You do know those videos can be used against you, right? The internet is forever. Also, the 1600s were a lot different than 2024 advancements in detecting poison,” read the caption of one video.

Separately, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene raised an alarm to the FBI and called for an investigation into the “public death threats”. “@FBI these are public death threats and must [be] investigated! These women are telling others how to poison and murder men because they are angry over the election. If you tracked down J6’ers (January 6 rioters), pro-lifers, parents angry at school boards, then you better go after these psychopaths!” Ms Greene said. 

US President Joe Biden was seen wiping away a tear during a rendition of ‘God Bless America’ at the Veterans Day service on Monday. As the song echoed through the grounds of the Arlington National Cemetery, the President appeared visibly emotional. The event was held to honour the service of those who have served in the US armed forces. A clip shared on X (formerly Twitter) captured the moment, with Biden expressing his emotions while singing along.

???? Today, at the Veterans Day service at Arlington National Cemetery, President Biden teared up as he joined veterans in singing God Bless America.

Moments like these show just how much he cares for our country. We’re going to miss him. ???????? pic.twitter.com/oQuXaoFbbg

— Chris D. Jackson (@ChrisDJackson) November 11, 2024

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, in their first joint appearance since Donald Trump’s re-election, came together to honour US military veterans.

During the ceremony, Biden and Harris laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Standing side-by-side, they maintained a solemn expression. After placing the wreath, Biden paused for a moment of quiet reflection, making the sign of the cross.

In his speech, Biden shared his sense of gratitude, telling the crowd, “This is the last time I will stand here at Arlington as commander in chief. It’s been the greatest honour of my life, to lead you, to serve you, to care for you, to defend you, just as you defended us generation after generation after generation.”

He also spoke about his late son, Beau Biden, a major in the Delaware Army National Guard who served in Iraq and died from glioblastoma in 2015. He said, “Like many of you, our son Beau Biden deployed in Iraq for a year. I still remember the day he asked me to pin his bars on him. He stood ramrod straight. How proud Jill and I and our family felt.”

Recounting the hardships military families face, he continued, “Like many of you, we remember how hard it was when he was deployed, empty seat at the dinner table, missed holidays, prayers of worry repeated every night. Just as we ask everything of our veterans, we ask everything of their families.”

Addressing all military families, especially those with missing loved ones or those who have lost family members in combat, Biden assured them: “For all the military families, for all those with a missing or loved one still unaccounted for, to all those with loved ones who have died in combat. Jill and I want you to know we see you, we thank you, and we will never stop working to meet our sacred obligation to you and your families.”

During his re-election campaign, Donald Trump vowed to purge the military of so-called “woke” generals. Now that he is president-elect, the question in the halls of the Pentagon is whether he would go much further.

Mr. Trump is expected to have a far darker view of his military leaders in his second term, after facing Pentagon resistance over everything from his scepticism toward NATO to his readiness to deploy troops to quell protests on U.S. streets.

Mr. Trump’s former U.S. generals and defence secretaries are among his fiercest critics, some branding him a fascist and declaring him unfit for office. Angered, Mr. Trump has suggested that his former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, could be executed for treason.

Current and former U.S. officials say Mr. Trump will prioritise loyalty in his second term and root out military officers and career civil servants he perceives to be disloyal.

“He will destroy the Department of Defense, frankly. He will go in and he will dismiss generals who stand up for the Constitution,” said Jack Reed, the Democrat who leads the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Culture war issues could be one trigger for firings. Mr. Trump was asked by Fox News in June whether he would fire generals described as “woke,” a term for those focused on racial and social justice but which is used by conservatives to disparage progressive policies.

“I would fire them. You can’t have (a) woke military,” Mr. Trump said.

Some current and former officials fear Mr. Trump’s team could target the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, a widely respected former fighter pilot and military commander who steers clear of politics.

The four-star general, who is Black, issued a video message about discrimination in the ranks in the days after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, and has been a voice in favour of diversity in the U.S. military.

Asked for comment, Mr.Brown’s spokesperson, Navy Captain Jereal Dorsey, said: “The chairman along with all of the service members in our armed forces remain focused on the security and defence of our nation and will continue to do so, ensuring a smooth transition to the new administration of President-elect Mr. Trump.”

Mr. Trump’s vice president-elect, J.D. Vance, voted as a senator last year against confirming Mr. Brown to become the top U.S. military officer, and has been a critic of perceived resistance to Mr. Trump’s orders within the Pentagon.

“If the people in your own government aren’t obeying you, you have got to get rid of them and replace them with people who are responsive to what the president’s trying to do,” Vance said in an interview with Tucker Carlson before the election.

During the campaign, Mr. Trump pledged to restore the name of a Confederate general to a major U.S. military base, reversing a change made after Floyd’s killing.

Mr. Trump’s strongest anti-woke messaging during the campaign took aim at transgender troops. Mr. Trump has previously banned transgender service members and posted a campaign ad on X portraying them as weak, with the vow that “WE WILL NOT HAVE A WOKE MILITARY!”

The Mr. Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

‘LAWFUL ORDERS’

Mr. Trump has suggested the U.S. military could play an important role in many of his policy priorities, from tapping National Guard and possibly active-duty troops to help carry out a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants to even deploying them to address domestic unrest.

Such proposals alarm military experts, who say deploying the military on American streets could not only violate laws but turn much of the American population against the still widely respected U.S. armed forces.

In a message to the forces after Mr. Trump’s election win, outgoing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged the results of the election and stressed the military would obey “all lawful orders” from its civilian leaders.

But some experts caution that Mr. Trump has wide latitude to interpret the law and U.S. troops cannot disobey legal orders they consider to be morally wrong.

“There is a widespread public misperception that the military can choose not to obey immoral orders. And that’s actually not true,” said Kori Schake of the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Ms. Schake warned that a second Mr. Trump term could see high-level firings as he pushes ahead with controversial policies.

“I think there will be an enormous chaos premium in a second Mr. Trump term, both because of the policies he will attempt to enact and the people he will put in place to enact them in terms of appointments,” she said.

One U.S. military official downplayed such concerns, saying on condition of anonymity that creating chaos within the U.S. military’s chain of command would create political backlash and be unnecessary for Mr. Trump to accomplish his goals.

“What these guys will find out is that military officers are generally focused on warfighting and not politics,” the military official said.

“I feel they’ll be satisfied of that – or at least they should be.”

HOLLOW OUT CIVILIAN RANKS?

Career civil servants at the Pentagon could be subjected to loyalty tests, current and former officials say. Mr. Trump allies have publicly embraced using executive orders and rule changes to replace thousands of civil servants with conservative allies. A senior U.S. defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters there was increasing concern within the Pentagon that Mr. Trump would purge career civilian employees from the department.

“I’m deeply concerned about their ranks,” the official said, adding that several colleagues had expressed concern about the future of their jobs.

Career civil servants are among the nearly 950,000 non-uniformed employees who work within the U.S. military and in many cases have years of specialised experience.

Mr. Trump vowed during the campaign to give himself the power to gut the federal workforce across the government.

During his first administration, some of Mr. Trump’s controversial suggestions to advisers, such as potentially firing missiles into Mexico to destroy drug labs, never became policy in part because of pushback from officials at the Pentagon.

“This will be 2016 on steroids and the fear is that he will hollow out the ranks and expertise in a way that will do irreparable damage to the Pentagon,” the official said.

File picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former U.S. President Donald Trump
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump on winning the 2024 U.S. elections as the results were announced on November 6, 2024.

ALSO READ: U.S. Elections 2024 results LIVE

Mr. Modi said that he was looking forward to “renewing our collaboration” from Mr. Trump’s previous term. The Republican had served as President of the U.S. from 2016 to 2020.

“Heartiest congratulations my friend Donald Trump on your historic election victory. As you build on the successes of your previous term, I look forward to renewing our collaboration to further strengthen the India-US Comprehensive Global and Strategic Partnership. Together, let’s work for the betterment of our people and to promote global peace, stability and prosperity,” wrote Mr. Modi on X.

Former U.S. President Trump was cruising towards winning the White House race in one of the greatest political comebacks in American history. According to projections, Mr. Trump was all set to receive 270 electoral college votes blocking Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’ chance to win the polls.