Amanda Baker is flabbergasted it has taken this long for Native American women to be elected, Joe McCarthy wonders whether a Republican victory in both chambers might have been a better outcome for liberals, and Suzanne Bosman gives her thoughts on the Trump administration and manhandling women

Those of us with a remnant of hope in our hearts are celebrating the numbers of women elected to the House of Representatives (Report, 8 November) – and somewhat flabbergasted that it has taken this long for Native American women to be elected. For Democrats Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland it must be like getting locked out of your home for a long time while strangers wreck it and fight over who gets to use up everything inside, then finally managing to find a small open window in the basement and battle your way into the main house.

Amanda Baker

Edinburgh

• I’m glad the Democrats have taken the House of Representatives. But I wonder if the increased sense of urgency on the left that might have been created by a Republican victory in both chambers would have been a better outcome? Ian Samuel (Opinion, theguardian.com, 4 November) paints a scary picture of how a determined “American right is in the midst of a formidable project: installing permanent minority rule”. Widespread “voter suppression”, “partisan gerrymandering” and an electoral system that is hugely weighted in favour of smaller, rural, conservative states have all helped “the last piece of the minority rule puzzle to snap into place: the supreme court”. These midterm election results may foster a misplaced belief within the liberal opposition in its ability to win back overall power through the current system. As Ian Samuel writes: “With the deck this stacked, it isn’t enough to win. Wresting control back from the entrenched minority will take overwhelming victory. It may take, in other words, a genuine political revolution.”

Joe McCarthy

Dublin

• The White House has suspended the press credentials of CNN’s Jim Acosta because he put “his hands on a young woman” while he was questioning Donald Trump. Presumably, if the journalist had “grabbed her by the pussy”, that would have been fine.

Suzanne Bosman

London

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