Sir, – After the spiteful partisanship of Donald Trump's campaign and election victory, it was depressingly predictable that the opinion pages of The Irish Times have been dominated by columnists who are all-too-ready to assume that they know everything they need to know about the mind and motives of nearly half the American electorate.
Trump voters, we are told, are racists and/or misogynists who are insecure in their masculinity. We are told to believe that unemployed former steel workers who see no hope for themselves or for their children voted for Mr Trump because they wanted to protect their “privileged” position in society. We are told that the best response to Trumpism is more identity politics of the kind that eschews any attempt to persuade people who don’t already agree with you.
We may condemn Mr Trump’s scapegoating and demagoguery, but the “activism” and “consciousness-raising” espoused by so many of your columnists is no-less explicit in trying to divide society, along demographic lines, into oppressors and the oppressed.
Liberal ideas and values need advocates who are prepared to engage with the concerns and counter-arguments of the other side in a genuine attempt to build consensus.
Many of your columnists seem convinced that, given enough righteous-indignation and name-calling, they can build a 51 per cent coalition and call that a victory.
Surely, recent experiences should be enough to convince us that this approach is not working. – Yours, etc,
DENIS McCARTHY,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – The saying attributed to the late Mario Cuomo, governor of New York, about campaigning in poetry and governing in prose needs to be adapted to contemporary conditions. Donald Trump has campaigned in graffiti but perhaps he too will govern in prose. – Yours, etc,
FRANK M FLANAGAN,
Clareview,
Limerick.
Sir, – Trump’s victory has had some instant positive effects for the US. The drought in California should now be solved because of all the tears and melting snowflakes. – Yours, etc,
DERMOT COOPER,
Causeway Bay,
Hong Kong.
Sir, – An excellent article by Laura Slattery ("Media record is stained but it is Trump who is appalling", Media & Marketing, November 16th). She is right to draw attention to "an alarming 'normalisation' project, on both sides of the Atlantic".
We must never “normalise” the politics of lies, fear and hate. – Yours, etc,
ANNE MURPHY,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – Will the construction of a barrier along the US-Mexico border necessitate the appointment of a “Secretary for the Fence”? – Yours, etc,
PAUL DELANEY,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – There is a saying in the Sikh tradition, “When the king is a businessman the people are beggars”. – Yours, etc,
DECLAN MORIARTY,
Finglas,
Dublin 11.