Letter of the week: MAGA are on the road to hell

It has been long-proven that people (men) can be brutalised – witness the behaviour of the current Russian army or a good portion of any army in a prolonged battle situation. 
Kenny MacLeod

Re: “Alastair Campbell’s diary: My truly deranged encounter with Trump apologist Kellyanne Conway”, TNW #502

I was struck by the similarity between Conway’s delusional defence of Trump as a great man and Steve Bannon doing the same when interviewed by the veteran TV host Ted Koppel. They are having to double (and triple) down on this, as he is haemorrhaging support pre-midterms.
Philip Shoebridge

They’ve spouted this MAGA nonsense for so long they cannot backtrack, despite it being glaringly obvious they’re on the road to hell.
Richard Robinson

Re: “Data Point: Two party politics is back,” by Peter Kellner, TNW #502

Is it significant that Peter Kellner doesn’t even mention the Lib Dems, currently the third party, on 72 seats, in his review of polls? 

If the predicter in the Opinium poll concerned is to be believed, Labour on 306 MPs wouldn’t be able to form a majority government without a deal with the Liberal Democrats on 63 MPs. Tories and Reform Ltd on 201 MPs combined would be well short of a majority, even if they could agree. 

With a general election next spring looking likely, perhaps it does still matter who leads the Lib Dems.
Peter Fane

Re: “Burnham is already winning the new Brexit wars,” by James Ball, TNW #502

Surely the security services have investigated Russian involvement in the referendum? For Nigel Farage to call the prime minister “a liar” is a serious accusation that needs to be challenged head-on. 

This should require a careful examination of the evidence by a public inquiry, which should result in one or the other one leaving public life. I know who I trust the most to tell the truth.
Brian Ronson

They’re panicking as they know they’d never win another referendum, no matter how much Putin throws at it.
Guy Masters

I liked Andy Burnham’s interview with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, he is a refreshing change from the stodginess of Keir Starmer, and he spoke with passion and clear thinking. He is right that we must address the Brexit issue and explore the way forward for Britain within Europe. Farage et al now have a formidable opponent and they don’t like it.
Adam Primhak

The reason a lot of voices have tried not to mention Brexit, or wanted to “reopen divisions”, is because they are mightily embarrassed by their role in the debacle. They realise how stupid their various promises and predictions now look.
Jens Jensen

I wonder how many Brexit supporters died when that Russian data centre was destroyed?
Adrian Withill

Suggested Reading

Why Emmanuel Macron can’t save France

Emma-Kate Symons

Re: “Why Emmanuel Macron can’t save France,” by Emma-Kate Symons, TNW #502

The French are sleepwalking into a Le Pen presidency. The only thing Macron has in common with de Gaulle is arrogance – otherwise he hasn’t achieved much for the French. Where is the Andy Burnham figure who can communicate with the population?
Simon Pocock

My 86-year-old, normally socialist-voting neighbour told me she felt sorry for Jordan Bardella being picked on by the press for things he said when he was only 15. I pointed out that he was 18 at the time, and that she always hated the Front National. I shall not be driving her to the polling station this year.
Ann Harries

Re: “The benefits of going back in time,” by Marie Le Conte, TNW #502

Fantastic article that really resonates with me. There are so many lessons to be learned from history and these types of books. If only more people would read them.
Richard Debonnaire

Re: “Suella Braverman’s book has only sold 106 copies. This is why,” by Ian Winwood, TNW #502

I’ve often wondered what the voters of Fareham ever saw in Suella. Her superficiality, craven desire for attention, and chronic over-ambition make for a bizarre political creation. Her fluidity of principle often seems to echo Groucho Marx’s comment: “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.”
Julian Thould

I was a constituent of Suella’s for a while. In a pub, I once expressed to another drinker the view that she couldn’t find her backside without written instructions from Tory Central. The response was a laugh and “I think that’s a bit harsh”. Then an admission that he was one of her party workers. I didn’t get the impression he disagreed. 
David Marshland

Braverman has a weird view that we all have only one, immutable, identity that is predetermined by birth and ethnicity. This is nonsense. We all have multiple identities – formed by family, descent, culture, nationality and life. None of us have a single monolithic identity fixed by ethnicity.
Kathryn Lomas

Alan Partridge had to pulp 14,000 unsold copies of Bouncing Back, but look at him now!
Stephen Cummins

Re: “The case against Winnie-the-Pooh” by David Quantick, TNW #502

To add to the dissenters, this from 1931:

“Hush, Hush, Nobody Cares! Christopher Robin Has Fallen Downstairs.”
JB Morton

BELOW THE LINE

Re: “Is this the real reason why Donald Trump keeps falling asleep in public?” by Henry Morris, TNW #502 

We live in such a bizarre reality these days that I too initially took the first “Trump Spokesperson” comment as real.
Martin Treacy

Re: Rats In A Sack on the Telegraph whitewashing Jeffrey Archer, TNW #502
It is amusing that the Torygraph, a strident supporter of “family values”, was happy to sideline Archer’s serial lying, fraud and infidelity.
Kathy Moyse

Re: “Everyday philosophy: was Nietzsche really a Nazi?” by Nigel Warburton, TNW #502 

I always thought of Nazis as unquestioning, goose-stepping yes-men. The opposite of the kind of iconoclast that Nietzsche would have approved of.
Ste Thomas

Re: “The stupidity of Suella Braverman’s rules for being English,” by Jay Elwes, TNW #502

The Saxons were the first “boat people” – should we send them back?
Máire Nic Shéamais

It’s all such nonsense and the reality is it is racism pure and simple. No person born in England to white immigrants would have their Englishness questioned.
Giles Hardingham