Trump, Modi, and the illiberal consensus

ABSTRACT President Trump and Prime Minister Modi often invoked their two nation’s claims as “oldest and largest” democracies to trumpet the naturalness of the US-India alliance. Shared democratic values was the glue that supposedly bound the two countries together. This contribution argues that the cynical and opportunistic invocation of democratic values by both governments damaged the cause of democracy globally. Both have attacked the independence of the press, civil society, and judiciary; and democratic backsliding and religious intolerance has worsened in both countries. The legitimacy of America’s democratic credentials, already battered by Trump, is irreparably tainted by its embrace of Modi’s India. The victim of this illiberal consensus is democracy internationally.