Opinion: Pantsuit Nation may not be a political powerhouse, but it serves a purpose

To the editor: Karin Klein is right: The 4-million member Facebook group Pantsuit Nation’s fizzle is a huge disappointment when Hillary Clinton supporters should be organizing against Donald Trump’s agenda. (“Pantsuit Nation had the potential to mobilize millions. Instead, it’s just a feel-good commodity,” Opinion, Dec. 26)

But a glance at the comments posted in response to Klein’s piece online demonstrates why secret Facebook groups like Pantsuit Nation had at least one legitimate purpose when they provided spaces safe from constant assaults from vicious Bernie Sanders and Trump partisans and alt-right trolls.

I remain a member of a number of secret pro-Clinton Facebook groups. One countered the tidal wave of obscene threats that appeared on the pages of any public figure or group that endorsed Clinton (Rep. John Lewis, Planned Parenthood and others). The other is a private forum for political discourse.

These groups are not moribund. I suspect there are many more whose members are dead serious about resisting Trump and fighting for the values that Clinton so ably advanced.

Jo Perry, Studio City

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To the editor: As Klein relates, the promise of Pantsuit Nation once shone bright for progressive causes. With its focus on myriad pending conservative affronts to democracy, the group’s vast membership surely could have been mobilized to oppose them. But the organization turned out to be more about image than substance.

Now, even as its leaders strive to maintain a formidable facade, they furtively are morphing Pantsuit Nation into a feel-good organization — an “online kaffeeklatsch,” as Klein aptly puts it — from which they may personally profit.

There’s one upside to this debacle: It serves as a reminder that both sides of the political spectrum include operatives with “deplorable” inclinations.

Sandra Perez, Santa Maria

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