Krishnan Srinivasan | Political parties facing anxiety as election gets closer in US

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited US President Joe Biden as the chief guest for the coming Republic Day celebrations next year, which will be an election year in both the United States and India. In that country, the oldest continuous two-party democracy, the front-running candidates for President in November 2024 are former President Donald Trump, a Republican, who is facing 91 federal and state-level criminal charges, and the incumbent Democrat Joe Biden, who is suffering evidence of senility at the age of 80. Donald Trump, who is 77, talks nonsense in public appearances but he does so with vigour and energy, and voters seem less concerned by Mr Trump’s advancing years than Mr Biden’s. The difference between the traditional Republican Wall Street and the Democrat Main Street has shrunk, Mr Biden’s position with working-class voters has deteriorated and his son Hunter Biden, indicted on firearms charges and under investigation for failure to pay tax and using the family name to promote his business, has clouded the President’s reputation for integrity. Among the party’s presidential aspirants, Vivek Ramaswamy echoes Mr Trump’s disdain for the Washington establishment by pledging to eliminate 75 per cent of the federal workforce.