Regarding Chris Cillizza’s Oct. 3 Monday Fix column, “Trump supporters have fallen heart over head in love”:

I take deep exception to Chris Matthews’s characterization, as quoted by Mr. Cillizza, of Donald Trump supporters’ motivation as “patriotic. . . . They believe in their country . . . [and] have a deep sense that their country is being taken away and betrayed.” I would not dispute the idea that many of the people who are attracted to Mr. Trump’s candidacy believe they are motivated by patriotism.

But are we really to believe that people are, in fact, patriots if they follow a leader who denigrates a significant percentage of their fellow citizens, advocates violence against those who disagree with him, seemingly contributes none of his own wealth to support the public good and proclaims his intention of eliminating the very attributes of our constitutional system of government that have truly made our country exceptional? Are we to believe that their sense of patriotism is deeper than that of the many millions of Americans who see clearly what Mr. Trump represents and are determined to reject it and eliminate it from our body politic? Whether we call them racist or tribalist or white nationalist, or whether we consider them merely misguided, these are all debatable propositions. But please don’t suggest that they have some special call on love of our country.

Gerald M. Feierstein, Washington

The writer was U.S. ambassador to Yemen

from 2010 to 2013.

In endorsing the view s of Chris Matthews, Chris Cillizza provided tepid rationalization of Donald Trump’s enduring appeal. Mr. Matthews attributed it to “patriotic feelings” and a sense of “being let down by bicoastal elite leaders” on issues such as “immigration, trade regulation and stupid wars.” If that were the case, why aren’t African Americans and other disadvantaged minorities sharing this angst with working-class whites who appear to form the base of Mr. Trump’s support?

The “easy answer” Mr. Cillizza describes — racism — happens to be the right answer, in that working-class insecurity resulting from a partial redistribution of wealth to poorer countries has reignited racial animus and regressive prejudice. As Mr. Trump rages against jobs and wealth lost to China and Mexico and wants to extract concessions from them for “unfair” trade deals, scant attention is paid to the argument that vast populations in these countries remain far more economically disadvantaged in comparison with the First World and working-class Americans. Why else would a wall even be necessary?

Dilip Ramchandani, Washington