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”.