Kamala Harris can prevent Trump from dragging US towards authoritarianism: Salman Rushdie

Mumbai-born Indian American author Salman Rushdie has endorsed likely Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris expressing his belief that she can prevent former president Donald Trump from dragging the United States towards authoritarianism.

“There is absolutely no reason why Kamala Harris should not win and actually win it quite handily,” said the acclaimed novelist headlining the virtual launch of South Asian Men for Harris on July 27.

“It’s a critical moment. I’m a boy from Bombay and it’s great to see an Indian woman running for the White House. And my wife is African-American, so we like the fact that a Black and Indian woman is running for the White House,” said Rushdie said, who survived a nearly fatal stabbing two years ago at a reading in Chautauqua, New York.

The event was attended by scores of leading names from the Indian-American community, including prominent lawmakers, authors, policy experts, entrepreneurs and diaspora organisations.

The 77-year-old author also noted that ethnicity itself is not enough. “We would not be gathering in this way let’s say for Usha Vance or Nikki Haley,” he said, referring to the Indian-American wife of Republican Vice Presidential nominee J D Vance and the Indian-American former South Carolina governor.

Rushdie emphasised that the momentum is because something “very extraordinary, transformative has happened in American politics” in just under one week since President Joe Biden dropped out of the White House race.

“The conversation has entirely changed with the arrival of Kamala Harris’ candidacy and it’s changed most joyfully, a way of optimism and positive, forward-thinking,” he said underscoring that the community has to make that work because “we can’t allow the alternative to happen”.

“This hollow man without a single noble quality, trying to drag this country towards authoritarianism. That cannot happen,” he said, referring to the Republican presidential nominee.

Rushdie voiced his confidence that Harris “is the person who can prevent it. And so I’m right in 1,000 per cent in for her.” He added that star power matters in America and one could argue that Trump’s celebrity status from being on TV for many years helped him get elected to the White House in 2016.

“Well, right now, he doesn’t look like the star. He looks like the old, fat guy. Kamala looks like the superstar. And I think the charisma she brings to the campaign could be critical in the weeks ahead,” he said.

In response to a question that there are sceptics in the country who believe that America would not elect a woman with Black and Indian heritage as President, Rushdie said this may well have been an argument even as recently as maybe a decade ago, but the times have changed.

“The way in which women’s leadership is viewed now is different. The way in which the race issue can be made a positive is a new thing. And so I think there’s absolutely no reason why Kamala Harris should not win and actually win it quite handily,” Rushdie said.

Underlining that the tide is turning, Rushdie cited recent media polls that put Harris neck and neck with Trump, “which is a pretty big bounce from the last Biden poll”.

“And it’s not even a week. We can do this. We just have to believe it.”

Rushdie called on people across the country, including the writer community, to “use every power we have, whether it’s speaking out, writing, arguing, we’ve got to win this argument. And writers are pretty good at arguing. So I think we’re going to do our best.”

The event called on all South Asian men and women to rally, fundraise and get out to vote for “our first female president, Kamala Harris!”

The event, co-hosted by CEO and co-founder of full-service digital agency Digimentors Sree Sreenivasan, featured prominent names including Congressmen Raja Krishnamoorthi and Ro Khanna, co-founder of South Asians for Harris Harini Krishnan and Montgomery County Commissioner Neil Makhija.