Readers React: Who created Donald Trump? The Republican establishment now trying to stop him.

To the editor: The blame game over the Donald Trump phenomenon intensifies. Is it Trump himself? Does it go back to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, or even way back to Newt Gingrich and slash-and-burn politics? How did the Republicans become the party of extremists? (“Who’s to blame for Donald Trump?” Opinion, March 10)

The narrative that Trump is the problem is naive. There have always been divisive and unprincipled politicians seeing political gain by appealing to fear and hatred.

What is new and surprising is the large segment of the Republican Party that embraces those values. Trump did not invent these values, but he has become a magnet for the worst elements in society. The Republican Party appealed to these folks for decades, usually in code language, and now it has the albatross around its neck.

Roger Johnson, San Clemente

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To the editor: Noah Berlatsky has divided up the blame for the rise of Trump (correctly described as “comical, embarrassing and terrifying”) among the generalized notion of a “hollowed out” middle class, Bill Clinton’s open trade policies, Bush’s tax cuts, bank bailouts and other people, institutions and events too numerous to recount here.

The “terrifying” part of the piece that Berlatsky refers to is summed up in the sentence: “Celebrity makes the fascism go down easy.”

Europe in the 1930s was particularly hard hit by the Great Depression. Lest we forget, the Nazis came to power in Germany not by a military coup, but by being voted into office by the people who had become disheartened by the economic and political status quo of their time.

Nate Tucker, Costa Mesa

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To the editor: Berlatsky asks what has contributed to the rise of Trump. Let me suggest an explanation he did not offer.

The Republican base has figured out that the party establishment does not care about the middle class. It has realized that tax cuts for the rich do not trickle down and create middle-class jobs. It has realized that deregulation does not create jobs and prosperity but rather caused the Great Recession. It has figured out that the belief that giving money to politicians is “free speech” is in reality the method used by corporations and the extremely wealthy use to bribe politicians.

Democrats have known all of this for years. Members of the Republican base have finally realized that they have been used, manipulated and betrayed by the party establishment. Is it any wonder they’re angry?

Michael Asher, Valley Village

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