Only 10 days are left before US president-elect and Republican Party leader Donald Trump returns to the White House, following his win over incumbent President of the United States and Democratic Party leader Joe Biden. As the countdown begins for the Donald Trump inauguration, there is more and more focus on the Indian-origin element of the new administration.
The Trump picks have to be confirmed through Senate hearings. Bloomberg reported yesterday that the “nominees will begin testifying before the US Senate next week as Republicans rush to install the new cabinet soon after the Jan. 20 inauguration”.
Indian-origin future Second Lady Usha Vance, wife of vice-president-elect JD Vance, has been making headlines since her husband was named Donald Trump’s running mate in July 2024. The Trump triumph over Biden ensures that the stylish Usha will continue to be in the spotlight.
Doing a “who is…?” profile on Usha Vance in November 2024, right after the US election day, BBC quoted Usha as saying that her “meat and potatoes” husband had adapted to her Indian vegetarian diet and had even learnt to cook for his mother-in-law. Now, that is what a good Indian jamaai (son-in-law) would do, and JD had clearly aced it.
As Trump began announcing his picks some weeks ago, the Indian diaspora in the United States and people in India reacted with amazement at just how many PIO (person of Indian origin) names were coming into the limelight.
Among the most sensational nominations was that of former federal prosecutor Kashyap “Kash” Patel for the position of Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, one of the top jobs in America.
Even roles like the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy Adviser are going to Indian-Americans in the Donald Trump 2.0 administration.
Indian-American picks for the new Donald Trump administration
● Donald Trump has named his former presidential race rival Vivek Ramaswamy as the co-lead — along with tech innovator Elon Musk — of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a proposed presidential advisory commission.
● COVID-19 sceptic and former leader of the Republican Party’s California unit Harmeet K. Dhillon is the Trump nominee for the position of Assistant Attorney General for civil rights at the Department of Justice. She was also a legal adviser in the 2020 Trump campaign (with the election eventually won by Joe Biden).
● The Indian-American community has undeniably made its mark in the technology sector. The flag is being carried further by Indian-origin entrepreneur Sriram Krishnan, nominated as AI Policy Adviser. A troll meme recently portrayed Krishnan as “butter chicken”, a popular Indian dish. Reacting to the meme, an X user called the racist attack “disgusting”, a point of view that was endorsed by Elon Musk.
● Folks in the eastern Indian metropolis of Kolkata (earlier named “Calcutta”), the capital of West Bengal, must be immensely proud, as Dr Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian-American health researcher at Stanford University and a Bengali, has been named the next Director of the National Institutes of Health. This is the national medical research agency of America and a part of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
● One of the most high-profile names in the team surrounding Trump is that of Tulsi Gabbard. This politician and military officer, nominated by Trump as the Director of National Intelligence, has an Indian first name and her appearance, too, resembles that of an Indian. However, she is not actually of Indian origin. Gabbard, a practising Hindu, is of American Samoan ancestry. Her mother had converted to Hinduism, and a young Tulsi also embraced the religion. Therefore, Gabbard is Hindu-American rather than the commonly assumed Indian-American.
