Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump used a fake Indian accent to mock call centre workers as he denounced outsourcing of American jobs at a campaign rally in Delaware on Friday.
He, however, hastened to add that India is a “great place”, going on to comment that while he is not angry with leaders of India, China, Japan or Vietnam, he is “upset with our (American) leaders for being so stupid”.
Attacks on outsourcing have been a recurring theme of Trump’s campaign speeches for long, but this was perhaps the first time that he made Indian call centres a target.
Just a day after his top aides assured Republican leaders that Trump is about to become more measured and “presidential” at his campaign outings, the New York billionaire seemed to be out to disprove them by just being his usual self.
Having already pumped up a crowded gathering of his admirers in Delaware, Trump brought up the issue of Indian call centres to hold forth on how calls of American credit card customers were being answered from faraway India.
“You want to find out about your credit card. Guess what, you’re talking to a person from India. How the hell does that workIJ” he posed.
Remarking he once tried to check it for himself, the New York billionaire said: “So I called up, I tell the guys I’m checking on my card, I said, ‘Where are you fromIJ’” Then, in a fake Indian accent, he said the reply he got was, “We are from India.”
“Oh, great. That’s wonderful. Thank you very much,” Trump said, gesturing as though he was hanging up a phone.
He then proceeded to say how he has no issues with leaders of countries that are supposedly taking away American jobs. “I am not angry with China. I am not angry at Japan. I am not angry with Vietnam, India...all these countries,” he said, noting: ‘I am upset with our leaders for being so stupid.”
“You can’t allow policies that allow China, Mexico, Japan, Vietnam, India. You can’t allow policies that allow business to be ripped out of the United States like candy from a baby,” he commented in the course of his address.
American manufacturing jobs “are being stolen”, he said at one point, adding, “We are losing at every front. There is nothing good. Our country does not win anymore. The jobs are being stripped. Factories are closing. We are not going to let this happen anymore.”
The New York Daily News came down heavily on Trump’s targeting of Indian call centres by using a fake India accent. Calling it “a repugnant stand-up act”, the tabloid recalled how “Trump, known for his offensive commentaries on Muslims, Mexicans, women and other groups, has put his foot firmly in his mouth several times on the campaign trail”.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, lashed out at Trump’s demagoguery, targeting women, immigrants and Muslims.