Kamala Harris has ‘totally run away’ from Indian-Americans, says Donald Trump’s son
“You just look at Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris is of Indian descent and she’s totally run away from the community,” Eric Trump said in his address to the Indian Voices for Donald Trump.
US President Donald Trump’s son Eric has alleged that Senator Kamala Harris, who is the Democratic Party’s vice-presidential candidate, has “totally run away” from the Indian-American community.
Harris, 55, is the first-ever black, African-American and Indian-origin person to have been nominated by a major political party as its vice-presidential candidate.
Eric Trump, the second son of the president, charged Harris of not associating herself with the community at an event in Atlanta early this week at the formal launch of Indian Voices for Trump, wherein he accused the opposition Democratic Party of coming under the influence of the radical left.
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“You just look at Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris is of Indian descent and she’s totally run away from the community,” Eric said in his address to the Indian Voices for Trump.
“I think the Indian community knows that. And you know, she’s not going around saying that she’s of Indian descent. In fact, she’s going around saying the exact opposite,” Eric said, urging the Indian-American community to support and re-elect his father as against the Opposition Democratic Party’s presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Harris.
“You look at what this party stands for. You look at what the radical left stands for the lack of organised religion. They want to go after businesses. They want to increase taxes in ways that have never been thought possible. And you have so many business owners in this room right now.
“Look at this latest plan to increase taxes by USD 4 trillion… 82 per cent of people, which is pretty much every taxpayer... mean, all things that would absolutely tank the economy,” he said.
Indian-Americans have traditionally been supporters of the Democratic Party. However, Trump, with his intensive outreach, has made a big dent into this traditional vote bank, according to a recent survey.
According to the survey released by Indiaspora and Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Data early this week, 66 per cent Indian-Americans currently favour Biden and 28 per cent favour Trump while six per cent were undecided. Notably in the 2016 presidential election, 77 per cent voted for former US secretary Hillary Clinton, and 16 per cent for Trump. In 2012, as many as 84 per cent Indian-Americans voted for Barack Obama.
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Al Mason, co-chair of Trump Victory Indian-American Finance Committee, who was the first to report about this trend, said that the results of his survey in battleground states show that as many as 50 per cent of potential Indian-American voters, the vast majority of whom traditionally have voted for Democrats in the past presidential elections, will defect from the Democratic Party and vote for Trump in 2020.
The nomination of Harris as the Democratic Party’s vice-presidential candidate has generated enthusiasm in the Indian-American community. However, many members of the community have expressed their apprehensions over several of her policies and that of the Biden campaign.
Harris in her speeches, including her historic address at the Democratic National Convention, rarely forgets to mention the deep influence that her Indian mother Shyamala Harris had on her life and how her upbringing prepared her for the role she is seeking today.
The vice presidential candidate in her social media posts has also talked about the deep influence on her of India’s freedom movement led by Mahatma Gandhi that was based on the philosophy of non-violence, peace and truth.