Trump and His Mystery Mole.

If British politics have shown themselves to be dirty, deceitful and disreputable over the past few weeks, spare a thought for Americans who are being given no other choice for their next President than Trump and Clinton. You wouldn’t give either of them house room, would you? And isn’t democracy supposed to be about choosing the candidate of whom you most approve, not the one of whom you least disapprove?

My real sympathy, however, goes to poor Melania Trump. She’s surely been hung out to dry by somebody in her speech writing team, and the smell here is more that of a mole than a rat. I’ve only read one comparative section of her speech, but it’s easily enough to conclude without doubt that it’s an open and shut case of plagiarism. Whoever wrote it undoubtedly took Michelle Obama's speech and only lightly paraphrased it, so lightly that no one in their right mind could have failed to realise that it would get picked up.

I did wonder whether Michelle Obama might have a case for litigation over breach of copyright, but I doubt it. I should imagine political speeches are probably in the public domain and that’s good news for poor Mrs Trump. With a name like hers she must have been the butt of much sniggering down the years, so maybe she was due a bit of a break. As for the mole in the speech writing team who managed to pour further scorn on the Trump effort, I reckon that will remain a public mystery. Whether or not he or she will survive is probably in less doubt.