America must honour its ethos

Donald Trump and his supporters refuse to accept his defeat in this week’s watershed presidential election.

It’s not surprising, given the penchant for conspiracy theories by Trump and his devotees, that all manner of scapegoats are being blamed for the loss – everything from the “mainstream media” to the “deep state”, to George Soros and Bill Gates with, no doubt, a smattering of “lizard people” thrown in for good measure.

We do agree with Trump, though, that these issues belong in the courts of America, not in the ignorant courts of social media.

In a proper court, as opposed to Twitter – where Trump has conducted an inordinate amount of his public posturing in the past four years – you have to “put up or shut up” as the old folksy American saying goes.

If Trump and his campaigners can convince the courts that the Democrats have pulled off one of the biggest political scams in the history of Planet Earth, never mind just the USA, then he deserves to remain in the White House.

If he cannot, he must do the honourable thing and leave with what little dignity he has left.

Dignity, though, is not something which has characterised Trump’s time in office and his lying, child-like outbursts and awful ad hominem attacks – on everyone from political opponents to mentally challenged people – has demeaned the image of America as the land of the free.

Hopefully, Americans will take on board the plea by president-elect Joe Biden to put aside their differences and to stop regarding opponents as enemies, because they are all Americans.

That unity of purpose, that ability of the Stars and Stripes flag to unite and build a nation of vastly different components, is the essence of America.

They must not lose that in this time of uncertainty.

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