Columnist David Collins asked local Republicans if they approve of President Trump. A better question would be why are they Republicans?

It seems Republicans are most concerned about cutting taxes and fiscal matters even if real-world problems go unsolved. They fought highway tolls even though funding is barely adequate for maintenance. Many times, they have attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a hint of replacement.

Republicans are passionate about supporting the corporate, supposedly free market, while it consolidates and sends manufacturing to low-wage countries and lobbies for deregulation so that polluters can ignore the existential threat of climate devastation.

The business model for private equity is to buy up running businesses, putting them in heavy debt, downsize employment, strip assets, shower rewards on principals, put the company in bankruptcy, and leave even long-term employees without any support. This has happened to Sears, Toys-R-Us, Sports Authority, Brookstone, Payless and others.

The effect of all this has been to produce extreme wealth inequality, which in turn brought on the corrupt Trump administration with surrounding oligarchs who had no regard for people who have been dying by the thousands. Trump's governing model is similar to Russia's.

So, I ask, why are these people Republicans?

Robert L. Vogel

East Lyme