The National Party - Vile fantasies we can’t ignore

Had anyone insisted, even two weeks ago, that Melania Trump, the glamour model from Slovenia, would choose the White House Christmas decorations in 12 months’ time, they might have been indulged by friends who would have listened bemused but concerned for their friend’s wellbeing.

Oh, how we have all — most of us anyway — been proved absolutely wrong. Oh, how groupthink seduced us into imagining that America would never elect the bizarre and odious Trump, but let’s try to learn the lesson about how dangerous it is to ignore a threat until it is too late.

In recent days a Dublin hotel cancelled a booking by The National Party, where the party had planned to host an “information meeting”.

The party’s president is Justin Barrett, who played a leading role in the defeat of the first Nice referendum 15 years ago.

In a 1998 book, Mr Barrett argued for the establishment of a Catholic Republic, where immigration would be curtailed and where divorce would be banned.

He also proposed the abolition of the Dáil and proposed that political power be concentrated in the hands of one individual.

Essentially, Mr Barrett wants to turn Ireland into what Spain was like under fascist dictator General Franco.

It may be difficult to pretend to even respect such lunacies but it would be foolish to ignore them.

The Trump victory obliges us all to take a position, one that unites in the broadest possible way to reject this home-grown caliphate fantasy.