Are calls for Trump state visit ban misguided?

If we are to protest, surely it behoves us to ensure that we protest on the right grounds.

The election of the US President is a settled and done deal. This was not a choice to be made by the British people, but by their American cousins. People need to learn to accommodate that, though they remain free to protest the President’s actions and words. 

There is another important matter to consider here. State visits to this country are not necessarily a recognition of respect for every individual policy of another sovereign state. Neither are they primarily a means of welcoming or honouring an individual politician. 

State visits honour the office of the leader and our respect for the people he or she represents as head of state.

It is appropriate for us to honour the office of the Presidency and the great nation that it represents. Whether the office–bearer will live up to the high calling with which he’s been entrusted remains to be seen. Let us wish the US well, whatever some may think of its current leadership. This does not stop us protesting; it ensures that when we protest, we do so with a clear mind and clear perspective.