A valuable message – even in a post-truth era

‘WHAT might have been’ may well be the saddest words ever written, but anyone who heard Hillary Clinton speak at Trinity College must surely have brought them to mind. It is difficult to argue with her conclusion that we are at “a global tipping point” where “even facts and reason are under assault like never before”.

Her challenge to decide whether we embrace “free people, human rights and democracy” or “retreat to closed societies, oppression and authoritarianism” is also apposite. Is ours to be an age of inclusion or exclusion?

Unsurprisingly, she drew attention to the plight of immigrant families ripped apart. She may have been defeated by Donald Trump, despite having three million more votes, but her hope for a fairer future has not been crushed. She reassured us that even in this dark hour, it was because of the public outcry the Trump administration was “finally forced to take a step to end family separation”.

It has rightly been argued that partnership as opposed to partisanship makes for global stability. The world is too small for an ‘us’ and a ‘them’, and leaving out the middle is not an option. Mr Trump’s preference to super-size everything he touches simply by infusing it with a sense of his own importance will not, in itself, make America great again. True democrats with a determination to focus on what unites and not that which divides will always have an audience – even in a post-truth era, as Ms Clinton so refreshingly reminded us.