Sir, – Donald Trump asks why America is taking in people from countries such as El Salvador, Haiti and African countries ("UN condemns reported Trump remarks on 's***hole countries' as 'racist'", World News, January 12th).
The answer is because they are human beings who want a better life, just as Mr Trump’s forebears wanted when they went to America.
Mr Trump also asks why America is not taking in people from Norway. The answer is that Norwegians have a stable, democratic country characterised by its reasonable attitudes, and would be wary of moving to any country that would vote in Mr Trump as president. – Yours, etc,
MARY MORRISSEY,
Castletownbere,
Co Cork.
Sir, – Donald Trump’s comment resembled the kind of drunken remark made over a bar by somebody who doesn’t know what he’s talking about to somebody who doesn’t know what he’s listening to.
That the Republican Party fails to acknowledge the damage done by such open racism is a shocking indictment of its core values.
If I were a publican and heard such disparaging and upsetting remarks being publicly voiced, I would eject that person. Have the Republicans lost all sense and backbone? – Yours, etc,
GEORGE WAKEFIELD,
Mallow,
Cork.
Sir, – May I through your pages attempt to do the unthinkable and defend Donald Trump, who was accused of racism after his alleged comments about “s**thole” countries?
The countries to which he referred are all failed states or on the verge of being so. They are countries which few people would want to visit for a holiday or even for a business trip.
The word “s**thole” was inappropriate but I think we all know what he meant by it. He was referring to the poor government, corruption, indebtedness, poverty, violence, lawlessness and hopelessness that one associates with the countries mentioned. – Yours, etc,
GARRY BURY,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.