I want to thank the Gazette for publishing Trumpist screeds like “Let’s leave Age of Ignorance behind” [Guest column, Jan. 29], because we must recognize that propagandized neighbors live among us, filled with anger and recrimination.

How to deal with the Trumpers? First, don’t go for the bait they dangle in front of you, like “woke folk.” They throw out red meat like adolescent boys just to rile you up. Don’t pursue their false equivalencies that inevitably come with dumb vilifications, such as “spoiled brat Hunter Biden.”

Second, confront the doublespeak language that mirrors George Orwell’s novel “1984,” in which the ordinary meaning of a word becomes its opposite: Ignorance becomes wisdom and inclusion becomes exclusion. Third, confront the lies. There are no actually open borders, the U.S. is not dependent on foreign oil, etc.

As to Hitler and Nazism, the first is dead and the second is alive. Nazism is an autocratic/oligarchic political system, originating with Mussolini, in which a cult leader, using propaganda composed of repeated lies, joins with industrial leaders to rule a country under the name of sacred nationhood. Hitler took advantage of antisemitism to unleash the Holocaust. Trumpers cannot live without enemies at whom to aim their hate.

I cannot conceive of leaving behind a legacy of anger, recrimination, and frustration that will mark the Trumpers’ heritage. I want a legacy that will make my children and grandchildren proud of our country and ourselves, living lives full of kind and strong memories.

John Sinton

Florence