President Trump's successful trip to India this week will develop a critical prospective alliance while undermining one of the most common criticisms leveled against this president: that Trump cares little for democratic values or for allies.

This was certainly not evident from Trump's rhetoric and effort during his short visit. Instead, addressing more than 100,000 people in a packed Ahmedabad stadium, Trump offered a bright vision of future friendship between the world's most powerful and its most populous democracies. As the BBC observed, "It was a good speech."

Addressing democratic values, Trump carefully hinted at concerns over India's treatment of its Muslim citizens. While praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the president celebrated an India in which "millions upon millions of Hindus and Muslims, Sikhs and Jains, Buddhists, Christians, and Jews worship side by side in harmony." Building on this theme of democracies made strong by diversity, Trump called for "every Indian, north and south, Hindu or Muslim, Jewish and Christian, young and old, take pride in the glories of your past, unite for an even brighter future, and let our two nations always stand together as powerful defenders of peace and liberty."

Asked at a later press conference whether he had raised the issue of religious liberty in private meetings with Modi, Trump confirmed that he had done so. Describing shared U.S. and Indian efforts against terrorists, Trump threw Modi a line that President Barack Obama would have been highly unlikely to offer. He promised Indians that America would continue "to crack down on the terrorist organizations and militants that operate on the Pakistani border." Trump's strong stance here will go down well with an Indian government and people still reeling from a Pakistani terrorist attack last February that killed 40 people. Equally important is the fact that Trump's robust stance on Pakistani terrorist threats stands in contrast to unhelpful positions of calculated indifference taken by China and Russia.

Trump also promoted the "quad" strategic dialogue among the democracies of the United States, Australia, Japan, and India. He announced India's purchase of $3 billion in U.S. helicopters, and, in distinctly Trumpian terms, he offered a rationale for why India would gain by abandoning its Sino-Russian flirtations in favor of a U.S. partnership.

"We have spent two and a half trillion dollars on rebuilding our military. It’s the most powerful military anywhere in the world by far. That is why I have come here to India, in the spirit of fondness and goodwill, to expand our cherished partnership of incredible power and potential," Trump said. "I believe that the United States should be India’s premier defense partner, and that’s the way it’s working out. Together, we will defend our sovereignty, security, and protect a free and open Indo-Pacific region for our children and for many, many generations to come."

Trump is here linking Chinese efforts to dominate the western Pacific oceans with Beijing's growing effort to project power at India's doorstep. It's a clever step for two reasons. First, New Delhi is increasingly concerned by China's sponsorship and use of the Pakistani port at Gwadar and related efforts to undermine India's security on its northern borders. Second, the U.S. needs all the allies it can get to deter Chinese President Xi Jinping's effort to turn the world's oceans into his private playground.

Unfortunately, there is still no U.S.-India trade deal, but that could be a good thing if, as the president suggests, this is because the two sides are working on a bigger deal than expected. This is a relationship that is important we get right, so patience is in order.

But, ultimately, this trip hinted at the possibilities of a very bright future. If India and the U.S. can form a common bond built on the rule of law, national sovereignty, and democracy, they will be that much more prosperous and safe. This presidential tale is not defined by tweets but by true statesmanship.