Watching the U.S. election has caused me to revisit that old movie classic, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, directed by Frank Capra and starring James Stewart in the main role of Jefferson Smith.  I particularly enjoyed Smith’s wonderful speech during the filibuster scene and climax of the story.

I began to imagine Donald Trump as Jefferson Smith.  I struggled a great deal, I have to say.  Smith is innocent and idealistic and very articulate in proclaiming the corruption he has discovered at the heart of Washington.  Trump, on the other hand, is clumsy and almost childlike in his rhetoric.

But I suddenly realized that Jefferson Smith and Donald Trump do have something fundamental in common.  They are both repeating the same warning.  “There is corruption at the heart of democracy, and it has to be rooted out.”  It has fascinated me how Trump repeats the same message over and over again about how Hillary Clinton needs to be investigated and how the system is rigged.  It doesn’t matter what any of his detractors say about him even from within his own party; he continues to say the same thing.  Then it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps he keeps saying it because he really believes it!  After all, Trump does not do sound bite or spin or follow carefully worded scripts.

In Britain, Trump is vilified from all sides of the political spectrum with the exception of Nigel Farage.  However, two days after the FBI announced it was reopening its case concerning Mrs. Clinton’s emails, I read a very interesting article by Simon Heffer of the Telegraph.  Mr. Heffer says:

Now, the Trump rhetoric about Clinton being crooked and corrupt resonates as more than just hyperbole. It starts to seem that there might be some truth in it… the reopened FBI investigation could kill Mrs Clinton’s hopes of the White House. She will be tarnished by the ancient principle of no smoke without fire: or by the slightly more scientific conclusion that tens of millions of voters may now reach, that the FBI would never have acted as they did so close to polling day without very good reason. Add to that a phenomenon that, operating here, brought about Brexit – the decision to vote by people who never normally do, but who see in supporting Mr Trump an opportunity to smack the smug, internationalist political elite in the mouth – and the idea of a President Trump starts to look possible. He has not yet won, and may well not: but these events play into his hands, and his chances have never looked so good as they do now.

Returning to the movie, I would like to quote part of the speech Jefferson Smith makes on the Senate floor as the story reaches its finale.

Get up there with that lady that's up on top of this Capitol dome, that lady that stands for liberty. Take a look at this country through her eyes if you really want to see something. And you won't just see scenery; you'll see the whole parade of what Man's carved out for himself, after centuries of fighting. Fighting for something better than just jungle law, fighting so he can stand on his own two feet, free and decent, like he was created, no matter what his race, color, or creed. That's what you'd see. There's no place out there for graft, or greed, or lies, or compromise with human liberties… And it's not too late, because this country is bigger than the Taylors, or you, or me, or anything else. Great principles don't get lost once they come to light. They're right here; you just have to see them again!

Perhaps Mr. Trump will go to Washington.