Of all human traits it is cowardice that offends me the most. I despise cowards with the heat of a thousand suns. They are useless pimples on the arse of the world.

Cowardice is the polar opposite of courage. It is knowing that you need to do something but, in the face of fear, become frozen. Or, indeed, run away.

In a biblical context you need only reference Revelations 21:8:

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.

In the modern world cowardice may be simply keeping quiet about something you hold dear so as not to offend the mob. Or breaking up with someone via text.

During wartime, any equivocation on the battlefield could be met later with a firing squad. To call a man a coward is about as huge an insult you can get.

So I don’t do it lightly when I call Whanganui’s current mayor Andrew Tripe a full-blown, fly blown coward.

A candlelight vigil was held in the city a few days after Charlie Kirik’s murder. I find those types of events fairly tacky at the best of times, and would never go to one myself, but the mayor being a Christian and a fairly decent guy was obviously moved enough that he decided to attend. And speak very briefly.

Here he is doing just that, but the sound quality is not great due to the bad weather and wind, but you’ll get a feel for what he said about condemning violence and defending the right to speak without fear. I mean, what a terrible thing to have faith in?

Now the question is why was this clip filmed and by whom? Because nek minit he’s being attacked by every ‘woke’ acolyte of his mayoral competitor on social media and it feels very orchestrated and organised. How convenient.

So with his opponents rabidly repeating every lie about Charlie Kirk and who he was for days on end, what does Tripe do? He puts his tail between his legs and capitulates.

He says things like, “I didn’t do my due diligence” and that he knew “very little” about Kirk before his death and had not listened to or followed him. “I went naively to an event I got invited to. I regret going. Had I realised he was a divisive figure, I wouldn’t have gone.”

“I was shocked, like many people, at how he died. I simply got invited along to speak and I should have done my due diligence – I didn’t. I certainly did not intend to endorse any individual’s views and apologise if that is how my words were interpreted. I did not know his views.” Listen to this pap.

The people on the witch hunt against him all appear to have transparent political motives for attacking him. They want their mate – the other candidate – to win.

Every biased bloke and his left-leaning dog are saying that Charlie Kirk was a bigot, a homophobe, a Nazi, with reprehensible views on gay people. Really?

Because all this gay women ever saw was a Christian man who wanted to talk to young people on college campuses about any subject, all done in a caring and respectful way. He truly believed that conversation was the only way to bridge the distance between people. In fact, he died for that belief.

Now, here’s what I think many voters wanted to see. People want leaders right now. How novel would it have been for Andrew Tripe to be unapologetic. To stand up for his convictions. To not be a coward who runs away when the mob descends with verbal pitchforks. But he clearly wants to be mayor so bad that he gives in at the first sign of what the other side do so well. Abuse, control, threaten and lie.

It could still all backfire on his opponent because many of us see what he’s doing. He, of course, has seen an opportunity and choreographed a drama for his own narcissistic ends. He is not a good person for doing so. The voters, I hope, will see the ‘woke’ manchild naked and exposed for what he really is. An empty vessel.

And this is the dilemma for voters all around the country. All forms of government are full of spineless wimps and feral rodents.

And maybe in the end it’s better to have a coward as the mayor of a city than a weasel. It’s hard to know.

And people ask why democracy is dying and many of us are throwing our voting papers in the bin. If this is the choice we face, well, we’re done for.

But on some level most of us know that.