In perhaps his first-ever comment on India since he jumped into the US presidential race last June, Republican front-runner Donald Trump has said the country is doing great, but nobody talks about it.
The billionaire businessman made the comment while speaking to CNN on America’s decline and the rise of China and India during a wide-ranging interview on Monday.
When anchor Wolf Blitzer quizzed him on a comment he had made on this subject back in 2007, Trump said: “That was the beginning of China. That was the beginning of India, when India -- by the way, India is doing great. Nobody talks about it. And I have big jobs going up in India. But India is doing great.”
He, however, had no flattering things to say about China, a country which he attacks day in and day out on the campaign trail for having taken away American manufacturing and dominating trade through currency manipulation.
A trenchant critic of what he regards as America’s economic and political decline under successive administrations, Trump had said back in September 2007: “Just look at this country (the US). We have gone from this tremendous power that was respected all over the world to somewhat of a laughing stock.”
“All of a sudden, people are talking about China and India and other places, even from an economic standpoint. America has come down a long way, a long way. The US has come down a long way, and it’s very, very sad. We’re not respected,” he had bemoaned at that time.
Trump, who has been leading the Republican polls, has promised to “make America great again” if elected President in November this year.