I hardly recognize the Republican Party that I so actively supported in the past. When I arrived in Federal Way, over 40 years ago, I was a Rockefeller Republican who later became a Dan Evans Republican. After the disastrous emergence of the “Craswell movement” within the party, I joined people like my friend Sam Reed to help form a moderate movement within the party called “mainstream Republican.”

I still have a copy of the First Interstate Bank (now Wells Fargo) check that I wrote to the Brough-Schoon campaign in April of 1984, and I held open-house events for people like Phil Watkin, Maryann Mitchell and did a lot more for the Republican Party.

But finally the light came on and I realized that I was supporting a party of big business and bigotry, and I severed ties with all but Sam Reed. Sadly, the Republican Party continues to swerve off course. This past election cycle, the party voted in record numbers for a man who: insulted the pope, insulted ex-prisoner of war John McCain, mocked a reporter with disabilities and more.

Despite all of this, Republican loyalists, like local Sen. Mark Miloscia, continue to support Mr. Trump, and Sen. Miloscia recently used his Facebook page to make disparaging remarks about the women who had the audacity to participate in marches, parades or other activities to express their sentiments. At last count there were nearly 900 responses posted to his Facebook page.

The new Republican president took a page out of the Richard Nixon book when he recently fired the acting attorney general, just like Nixon fired then-assistant Attorney General William Ruckelshaus, who refused to fire the special prosecutor who was investigating Watergate. For those of you who are not familiar with Ruckelshaus, who now lives in Medina, he was covered in an excellent article in the Jan. 31 issue of The Seattle Times.

If you would like a more detailed overview of this chilling action taken by Richard Nixon, it is available in the Oct. 21, 1973, edition of The Washington Post. Ever wonder why conservatives always attack The Washington Post?

Nixon. Trump. What are the similarities?

Jim Grayson, Federal Way