Forget John Oliver’s take on the American presidential elections. The editorial that you know you want to read is here. The cover story of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) mouthpiece Organiser’s latest issue is on – drum roll – President-elect of the United States of America, Donald Trump.

Gracing Organiser’s cover is Trump’s presidential countenance, sloppily superimposed over Abraham Lincoln’s on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. And if that wasn’t enough, the question “I will make America Great Again?” looms over the subtle caption, “Trump Triumphs”. 

We could have forgiven the atrocious Photoshopping and the grammatically-mangled question on the cover. However, it’s a lot harder to ignore the disturbing irony of replacing Lincoln’s face – he was the president whose Emancipation Proclamation called for the abolition of slavery – with that of Trump’s, a man endorsed by a former Grand Wizard of the white supremacist hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Though the Trump campaign disavowed the endorsement later, this did not vex Duke.

More egregiously, Trump’s well-documented racist, sexist and xenophobic remarks and actions –  prior to and during his campaign – aren’t mentioned even once in the Organiser’s cover story. 

The story, written by Dilip Chaware, declares Trump “a political superman” who has prevailed despite “President Obama, the Democrats, the Republicans, the media, the big money and the establishment” all being against him. While it is true that most of the liberal media and mainstream politicians opposed Trump – for good reason – the idea that Trump is somehow anti-establishment because he did not have their support is laughable.

Trump’s campaign donor list wasn’t the longest, but it included the likes of Anthony Scaramucci, a Wall Street executive, and Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley billionaire who co-founded PayPal and forced Gawker to shut down – hardly a motley band of ‘anti-establishment’ rebels. Moreover, since his election victory, Trump’s cabinet picks appear to be career politicians. They are precisely the Washington ‘elites’ against whom Trump railed during his campaign.

So much for “draining the swamp”.

Chaware also notes the “novel development” that “many Bharatiyas now settled in the US stood openly for Trump”, despite incumbent President Barack Obama having “captured almost 90 percent of the votes of Bharatiyas”. He is correct in claiming that Obama enjoyed overwhelming support from the Indian American community (according to a survey by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, 84 percent Indian Americans voted for Obama in the 2012 elections). However, the assertion that they were “almost unanimously” supporting Trump is dubious at best. Prior to the election, a survey conducted by three Asian American advocacy groups revealed 62 percent Indian Americans viewed Trump unfavourably, while another survey showed 71 percent of Indian American identifying as Democrats. Exit polls from 2016 suggest 65 percent of Asian Americans voted for Hillary Clinton and it turns out that compared to other Asian American groups, Indian Americans came out in support of Clinton in greater numbers.

So despite what the Organiser would have us believe, it appears that a majority of Indian Americans supported Clinton, with perhaps, the obvious exception of members of that glorious collective that goes by the name of Republican Hindu Coalition.  

Chaware goes on to list the various factors that resulted in Trump’s victory and states that “the most prominent factor is his ardent opposition of Islamic Terrorism”. Again, he fails to mention that Trump’s “ardent opposition” to terrorism consists of indiscriminate bombing of areas controlled by the Islamic State; saying that he would “take out” the families of terrorists; and not just bring back waterboarding, but also institute worse forms of torture. The United States of America has never had the most stellar record of abiding by international law – the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and its aftermath being just one example – but Trump’s war against ‘Islamic Terrorism’ would seem to involve significantly worse human rights’ violations. But for Organiser, these aren’t concerns of which their readers should be aware.

Chaware also credits Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again” for playing a significant role in getting him elected. Interestingly, he even finds a Bharatiya connection to the slogan: “this slogan is a smart emulation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s electoral promise ‘Achche Din Ayenge’ or ‘Make in India’.” Moreover, Chaware feels “Trump has a soft corner for Bharat and Hindus”, which, in his view is one of the factors that led to Trump’s win. Never mind that they mostly voted for Clinton and that Trump actually lost the popular vote. What do facts matter when “he [Trump] is a fan of Narendra Modi”, according to Chaware.

He goes on to predict that “Bharat will be a major beneficiary of Trump’s election”, but given Trump has already backtracked on some of his campaign promises, such predictions seem optimistic.

So there you have it: RSS’s mouthpiece is cheerful – even pleased – about unimaginable political power in the tiny hands of an openly racist, misogynistic and xenophobic bigot. Isn’t that just the sort of organization you want as the Indian government’s ideological mentor?