FROM Butch and Sundance to Thelma and Louise, American cinema has been home to many a last stand hero, some more admirable than others.

Perhaps it is in that context that we should view the real-life efforts of one Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States, to cling on to office following his defeat in the 2020 election. We knew he was never going to depart quietly. Not for him a humble concession speech and best wishes to his successor. Even by his standards, though, Mr Trump is going out in a blaze of vainglory.

READ MORE: Herald letters on the Trump defeat

In a presidency not short of pinch me moments, the leaked phone call between the President and Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Secretary of State, looked like a standout. To hear Mr Trump demand that the election official “find” him 11,780 votes and “recalculate” the result to hand him victory in the state was bizarre. It ought to have been beyond shocking, but instead it was just another storyline in his telenovela of a presidency.

As was the plea to the President from ten former defence secretaries to keep the military out of his battles. Just another item for the “we never thought we’d see the day, but …” file.

Again, one has to recognise, if not admire, Mr Trump’s cast iron belief in his indestructibility and his popularity among supporters. In his eyes, in their hearts, he can do no wrong.

Mr Trump has not limited himself to one last stand; he is going for as many as he can stage. Legal challenges to the election results (all defeated), rallies in Georgia, protests in Washington DC to coincide with the congressional confirmation of Joe Biden as victor, he is not out of ideas yet. And still the clock ticks on towards the inauguration.

It is heartening to see that Scotland may have a role to play as the sun sets on the Trump presidency. Born to a Scottish mother, Caledonia has been a presence in The Donald’s life from the start. If the rumours at the weekend are correct, he will be flying to Scotland to visit his golf courses rather than attend Mr Biden’s inauguration.

READ MORE: The electoral college vote explained

At least that might have been the plan before it was brought to the attention of Scotland’s First Minister, who promptly reminded Mr Trump that the country was closed to visitors.

“We are not allowing people to come into Scotland without an essential purpose right now,” said Nicola Sturgeon, "and that would apply to him just as it applies to anybody else. Coming to play golf is not what I would consider to be an essential purpose."

Changed days from when the Scottish Government rolled out the welcome mat for Mr Trump and could scarcely do enough to accommodate him. A man not known for the thickness of his skin, Scotland’s rebuffs, many of them at the hands of Ms Sturgeon and her Ministers, must have hurt.

Regardless of whether he travels here soon to dodge the inauguration – what a diplomatic stushie that would provoke – Scotland, America, the world has not seen the last of Mr Trump.

READ MORE: First Minister issues travel warning to President

Following the Biden victory there has been a tendency in some parts to see America as a country pressing “reset”, eager to return to some commonly held view of normality. America back in business, back as chief cheerleader for liberal democracy, protector of the environment and defender of fairness. In world terms, a necessary balance to China in the ascendant and a rogue Russia.

Yet it would be a mistake to write off the last four years, and the Trump phenomenon as a whole, as some inconsequential interruption to normal service. The election is over but Trump voters, all 74,223,251 of them, are not going anywhere.

In polls, a majority of them believe Mr Trump’s claim that he won, only to have victory snatched from him by elitist forces operating a national and global conspiracy. It is a ridiculous notion, but it still matters if enough people continue to believe it.

Far from wanting to see the back of him, Trump supporters are only too keen for him to stand again, and if not him then his Veep Mike Pence, followed by Donald Trump Jr.

If you believed his hype, the rich and privileged Mr Trump was blue collar America’s last hope of a fair shake. Like his supporters, that idea persists. It could even intensify and spread, depending on how long it takes for the economy and society to recover from the pandemic.

Whether he opts to criticise the Biden administration from the heights of his own TV network, run again himself, or have 2024 hopefuls compete for his backing like so many candidates in The Apprentice, he will not relinquish the spotlight easily.

That is one depressing theory, anyway. An optimist might look on last November’s presidential election, and its often chaotic aftermath, and be filled with hope rather than despair. The electoral system was tested to near destruction, with everything thrown at it, from billions of dollars to wave after wave of misinformation, yet it endured, a result was secured. 

READ MORE: Is a trip to Scotland in the offing?

The 2020 election was ugly, but even Mr Trump’s scorched earth tactics since have been unable to stop some green shoots emerging. Notable among these was the predicted victory of Raphael Warnock in one of the two Senate run-off elections in Georgia. The pastor from Atlanta was set to make history yesterday as the first black senator to represent Georgia. The same Georgia once synonymous with the evil of slavery. The same Georgia where Martin Luther King Jr was born. The same Georgia at the forefront of the Jim Crow South.

Mr Warnock’s mother, Verlene, was a farm labourer, and now he is a US senator, only the 11th to be elected.

Speaking of his now 82-year-old mother, he said: "The other day – because this is America –the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else's cotton went to the polls and picked her youngest son to be a United States senator.”

“Because this is America” sounds like a pretty hopeful slogan with which the country can begin the new year. Just as America may be home to the spectacular last stand, it is also the land of new beginnings, even for a past president who cannot accept defeat.

Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Herald.