Sir, – The hand of diplomatic courtesy will be offered by our President and Taoiseach to the US president Donald Trump this weekend. It is right to respect the office of the visiting president in this way.This courtesy should not, however, be interpreted as a gesture of welcome from the Irish people, for the hand they shake is the hand of a man, in fisted glove, who urged his supporters to attack Capitol Hill, violating American democracy. It is the hand that has signed executive orders to limit birthright citizenship in the US and command Ice to target migrants, murdering innocents in the streets of the US along the way. It is the hand that implemented illegal tariffs on Liberation Day and is untrustworthy at every turn, as Canada has recently found. It is the hand that signs the cheques for Binyamin Netanyahu to execute the genocide of Gaza. And the hand that initiated the war in Iran, bombing innocent schoolchildren, a war with vague and shifting objectives with Trump floundering cluelessly on an exit strategy, the world paying the price for his folly. It is the hand of a man who has signed off on cryptocurrency deregulation policies, directly benefiting the fortunes of his family by billions of dollars, corruption in full view. Realpolitik demands that he be told Doonbeg is the greatest of golf courses, for flattery is known to be the best protection for us and our economy from the vagaries of this vindictive man. We have to hold our noses and endure his presence until Sunday, returning then to the US to overtake Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan as the worst US president in history. – Yours, etc,DAVID O’FLANAGAN,Malahide,Co Dublin.