It seems likely that Donald Trump will be aiming for the President’s office in 2024. Sitting next to his long-time associate and campaign donor Shalabh Kumar, the former US President spoke to NDTV all but admitted that he would be running for another term. 

Trump told NDTV that he was leading in the polls, in “every poll – Republican polls and Democrat polls.” He added that he would make his decision in the “very near future” and that his decision was going to make many people “very happy.”

Shalabh Kumar, a long-time supporter of Trump said during the interview that the TV-celebrity-turned politician “should run again. That is our view.” He went on to tell NDTV, “…our  community, they will just love to have ‘Trump 47’.” Kumar did not make clear who ‘our community’ was though its possible that he was referencing the Republican Hindu Coalition or the Indian-American community in the country. 

‘Trump 47’ refers to a campaign pitch made by the former US President to make him the 47th President of the United States. 

Who is Shalabh Kumar?

Shalabh Kumar was born on December 24, 1948 in the city of Ambala in Haryana, India. Though not much is known about his schooling, he did complete a Bachelor’s of Science degree in electronics engineering from the Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh in 1969. Soon after, at the age of 20, he moved to the United States to complete his master’s degree at the Illinois Institute of Technology. 

He founded the AVG group of companies in 1975. They design and manufacture electronic components for industries ranging from automation to telecommunications. The company’s main headquarters are in Chicago but it also has offices around the world. 

Kumar’s entry into political lobbying and campaigning began in 2010 when was approached to support Nikki Haley’s campaign to become the governor of South Carolina. His donations made him the largest contributor to her campaign. 

Shortly after Osama Bin Laden was discovered to be hiding in Pakistan in 2011-2012, Kumar became a citizen lobbyist. He backed Texas Congressman Ted Poe’s bill to block foreign aid to Pakistan which passed in 2012. 

Later that year, Kumar would found the National Indian American Public Policy Institute, a think tank dedicated to tackling Indian-American issues. He was instrumental in helping now-Prime Minister Narendra Modi re-establish relationships with US lawmakers. Modi had been banned from entering the US a few years prior because of his alleged role in the 2002 Gujrat riots. 

He founded the Republican Hindu Coalition in 2015. A year later,  Kumar emerged as a public supporter and one of the largest donors of Donald Trump’s campaign after it was revealed that he supported the TV-celebrity-turned-politician’s stance on Pakistan and Islam. The RHC officially endorsed Trump as the Republican candidate for the President’s Office. 

Kumar was named the chairman of the Indian Advisory Board for the Trump campaign. In his capacity as chairman, he came up with the “Abki bar Trump Sarkar”, a near copy on Modi’s own campaign slogan, “Abki bar Modi Sarkar.”

The campaign ran last-minute 10 million non-skippable YouTube ads in Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, all swing states, to target Hindu voters who hadn’t chosen which party to vote for.  

In 2017, Kumar’s full biography was released in a book call “Ab Ki Baar Trump Sarkar.”