Re: “Letter to the editor: Progressives seek to know the world, not ignore it” (Dec. 11):

Rob Whitehouse, in his critique of Rep. Lawrence Lockman’s Nov. 27 column (“Trump win traumatizes Portland progressives”), protests the characterization of so-called progressives as “people who despise rural voters.”

Probably a better description would be that of a group who merely holds them in contempt. Mr. Whitehouse seems to be unaware of his own condescension shown in the very tone of his letter.

His statement that so-called progressives “want to understand why anyone would vote for someone who is so profoundly unfit to lead the country” is, in itself, a slur on the intelligence of anyone who didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton, and so simple-minded that perhaps his alleged education didn’t include any classes in cause and effect, or the errors of oversimplifying evidence.

Perhaps he should apply his “intellectual approach to politics” to trying to understand why millions of Bernie Sanders voters, after being deliberately cheated in the primaries, decided not to reward the Democratic hierarchy by voting for their corporate puppet. It wouldn’t even tax his uber-intellectual brain cells.

John Nichols

Portland


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