As Brexit proves, the intelligentsia across the world are widely mistaken in assuming that facts matter. People don’t vote based on the facts. They vote on the “facts’’ that they choose to believe. This has been demonstrated throughout history.

Populist candidates get elected because they say what people want to believe, not what is true. Hillary Clinton, take a lesson: It’s the message that will get you elected, not your phenomenal background, and not any set of facts that you present. Keep your message simple, and make it what people want to hear. If you don’t do that, you will lose to someone who does it brilliantly.

Nancy Kellogg

Northborough