How could China be affected by US measures?

Together, you can fashion a formidable, immovable buttress against the wretched aspects of Trumpism – its assault on facts, erosion of democratic norms, embrace of authoritarianism, and corrosive pursuit of division and fear.This contest cannot be won remotely – far from the epicentre of the urgent battle. It has to be fought face-to-face with an uncompromising adversary and hand-in-hand with other enlightened Americans, thin on the privileges and resources that have enabled your exit.

Trumpism thrives when opposition retreats. Absence creates space for extremism to entrench itself even more deeply and widely into America’s already frayed and discordant fabric. Withdrawal only comforts the Trumpists determined to quash dissent and erase resistance through edicts, threats, and coercion.Leaving can also be seen as an admission of defeat – a concession that an angry, ruptured country is beyond redemption or salvation.Dynamic governance is not self-sustaining; it requires citizens to keep up the struggle, particularly when it is trying. By forsaking the arena, some enlightened Americans forfeit their ability to shape the present and the future.

In contrast, standing with and by enlightened Americans remaining behind, confirms that America belongs to all its people, not just the cartoonish characters shouting the loudest or demanding the most attention.Trump welcomes the idea of disheartened Americans building new lives in new places because he is president. It is, I suspect, a point of pride since it suggests his vindictive agenda is working.

For Trump, the exodus of “liberal elites” or “out-of-touch” entertainers is proof that the old establishment, never subscribers to his jejune notion of America’s “greatness”, is being replaced by “authentic” patriots.

This response is, of course, symptomatic of Trump’s broader political strategy – drawing a Berlin-Wall-like line between “real” Americans – his supporters – and everyone else.Writing about Palestinians in this blunt, uncompromising way invites all sorts of replies from all sorts of quarters.

Some readers praise your “courage”. Some thank you for “speaking” for them, for not flinching, for naming names. Some readers urge you to continue to write, despite the risks and recriminations.Much less charitably, some readers call you ugly names. Some wish you and your family misfortune and harm. Some readers try, and fail, to get you fired.

All you can do as a writer is to keep writing, regardless of the reaction – whether kind or unkind, thoughtful or thoughtless – or the consequences, intended or not.Still, one of the casualties of writing about Palestinians can be the loss of the reassuring constancy and tender pleasure of valued friendships.