I was annoyed that Donald Trump thought it up before some of the smarter world leaders around could announce their own version of that immigration plan. A couple of weeks ago, he announced a new visa programme offering residency and a path to citizenship in America for anyone willing to pay approximately R41 crore. What a bargain, I thought to myself, given how a Parliamentary seat in some South Asian countries often costs three times that amount. This was followed by exasperation that our Ministry of Tourism hadn’t come up with a similar proposal yet.

Pathways for investors or entrepreneurs to get citizenship in India probably exist, but what made this offer stand out was how openly it was advertised by no less than a President. Imagine the highest-ranking member of government hawking everything from clothing and coffee table books to dinner engagements and green cards. It was a refreshingly shameless display of moral bankruptcy that made our homegrown elected convicts seem almost amateurish by comparison.