Dear Sir,

I refer to the letter of E. McNeil Stovell (October 18, 2017) wherein he attacks Donald Trump for being a racist. For once, I agree with Mr Stovell and I should add that the human race is taking far too long to grow up and realise that we are one species.

We should by now have had our fill of racial and sexual discrimination on whatever grounds you base it: skin colour, religious beliefs, etc.

Some interesting comparisons arise from Mr Stovell’s letter and Bermuda’s existing racial prejudice, which to some extent mirrors what is happening in the United States.

First, however, I was shocked to hear some white people supporting Trump, who I think is limited and a poltroon.

Mr Stovell asked what happened “to the intelligent mindset of America in electing Trump” — remember, we had not seen anything like him before, but he did give enough clues that he was not suitable.

In Bermuda we had no such excuse: we had seen what a spendthrift and uncaring government can do — forget what The Royal Gazette’s consultants told you, Bermuda was heading for disaster before the recession. And now we have elected the same group who were a disaster for Bermuda.

Also Mr Stovell says: “It seems to me that Trump is hellbent and obsessed with totally overturning just about everything that Barack Obama did. If you don’t mind me saying so, it seems as if it is just because he was a black man.”

In Bermuda, could “The Milkman” (Michael Dunkley, the former premier) do anything right in the eyes of Bermuda’s racists?

“Don’t steal our airport” was a mass-produced sign prominent at every meeting that attempted to get a working airport without massive spending adding to the national deficit.

Whatever he did, it was wrong, too late or not enough in spite of the battle to bring back tourism and international business — much of which had been destroyed. Faith-based tourism and disreputable foreign agencies were not going to do it.

If he appeared to make a misstep, there was a black leader being “concerned” or a union leader screaming “Babylon” — whatever that means — on Labour Day or an op-ed that he was favouring the rich.

The people doing that were hellbent on getting back to “the politics of plunder”, as Marc Bean called it.

Next Mr Stovell says Trump (read Progressive Labour Party) and his gang are going to cause great havoc in the running of the US (Bermuda). Trump was a phenomenon; no one had seen his like before.

We had no excuse; the PLP had messed up before.

Last but not least, Mr Stovell says: “It is quite possible that people would not knowingly elect a tyrant to power on the grounds that he pressed all the right buttons.”

For instance, Tennessee voted for Trump over 1.5 million to 870,000 against; about 2:1.

That is about the proportion here that voted for racial hatred; if you don’t believe the General Election was run on a racist platform, try to find a single policy that elicited such a landslide.

A black leader here who cared for the people above the demands of his Cabinet and cronies would be great.

One without cries like “don’t steal our airport” and “the OBA created more debt than we did” would be welcome, too.

Actually, there were people in the Cabinet of the PLP years ago who cared, but they did not last long. They were either fired or marginalised.

JOE WAKEFIELD

Smith’s