How richly ironic that Edward Luce’s splendidly insightful column, “Democrats will pay price for turning deaf ear to ordinary voters” (Opinion, June 17) appeared the day before the guest at Lunch With the FT (Life & Arts, June 18/19) was Hillary Clinton, whose dreadful campaign in 2016 stoked the fires of alienation of those “ordinary Americans”. Clinton’s “deplorables” struck at not just Trump-inclined, but wavering voters in swing states, especially in the midwest, which were lost to the Republicans.

David C Speedie
Charlottesville, VA, US