An eminent summer resident of your beautiful Island has complained that people are not talking to him because of his support of President Trump. The person is our esteemed colleague, Alan Dershowitz. It is difficult to believe that anyone would renounce the pleasure and profit that comes from talking with this foe of academic obscurity.

At age 92, I find travel more difficult than I did a few years ago. Otherwise, I could certainly seize the opportunity and come to Chilmark to talk with Alan. Perhaps these lines will reassure him that he is not destined for total exclusion. In lending his support to President Trump, Alan joins a coalition put together by Steve Bannon. Bannon has said that he draws inspiration from the French thinker Charles Maurras. Maurras was the principal philosophic supporter of the Vichy regime, with its murderous anti-Semitism. What does Alan think of finding himself in this company?

As I understand it (I am not a lawyer but a social scientist) Alan also strongly supports the President’s claim that his primary duty to national security authorizes him to close our borders to those he considers threatening. The doctrine that a government’s primary task is to protect its nation against enemies was perfected in the 20th century by the German philosopher of laws Carl Schmitt. Schmitt was an early and enthusiastic backer of Hitler and the Nazis and his students peopled the upper ranks of the Third Reich. Again, what does Alan think of finding himself on a parallel track — if not nearer — to this brutal thinker?

Should Alan find himself drinking coffee alone at the Chilmark Store, perhaps he could turn his large talents to these matters.

Norman Birnbaum
Washington D.C.