From Thomas Jefferson to Brack Obama, a plethora of holidays have been celebrated in the White House, spanning from Thanksgiving to Christmas to Ramadan to Diwali. This year, President Donald Trump broke the 20-year-old tradition of hosting an Eid al-Fitr dinner at the white house. Instead, he simply sent a statement with his "warm greetings."He also broke the 16-year-old tradition of celebrating Cinco-de-Mayo. For this tradition, Trump didn't even do anything. Instead, Vice President Pence stepped up, and hosted an event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. These traditions are two of many I am sure he has broken and just one of many he will break throughout his presidency. But on Oct. 19, the president of the United States celebrated Diwali, the festival of lights, with his Indian-American Ambassadors. As an Indian-American, this instantly made me suspicous.

The one question on my mind was: why? Trump has managed to break two great traditions in the short time he has been president, and celebrating Diwali in the oval house is not even a tradition. In fact, Obama did not even truly celebrate it till his last year in office.

He may be trying to win favors with the Indian community, he may be trying to distinguish himself from Obama or it may be because there is a large Indian community in the United States. Not many Indians approved of Trump being president, and we have plenty of reason to, but maybe by celebrating Diwali, Trump hopes to win some of us over. This could also help him in the long run with the fact that in a few years, there will be another election, and at the rate he's been going, Trump will not win.

The major reason I suspect Trump celebrated Diwali was in order to strengthen U.S.-Indian relations, because when asked why he is celebrating it Trump said, "You have made extraordinary contributions to art, science, medicine, business and education. America is especially thankful for its many Indian-American citizens who serve bravely in our armed forces and as first responders in communities throughout our great land." Although he has broke other traditions without a care, this may be a sign of Trump coming to his senses in order to boost his approval ratings. But even though this orange man with a dark soul celebrates the festival of light, that does not fix the fact that he broke and will probably break other traditions. His intentions for celebrating Diwali are clearly tied to certain political gains, and I suspect he will celebrate other traditions in the future that also present the opportunity to boost his ratings.