The question has become: Can the GOP be rescued?

Columnist Adam Sullivan is quite right in a recent column as he worries about the future of the Republican Party ('Make the GOP great again,” April 26). Iowa Rep. Andy McKean's party departure is only a single local example of the wave of departures nationally.

As I watch political talk shows, I see a parade of high-level, former government officials, Republican strategists, speech writers, columnists, etc. who have left the GOP and are now the most vociferous critics of President Donald Trump.

I left the party about 40 years ago when, attending the 1976 GOP convention in Kansas City, I saw that a Hollywood actor was being groomed for the presidency. The move to the extreme right and the 'dumbing down” of the party has continued. The party that started out with Honest Abe has degenerated to Dishonest Donald and is completely lacking in integrity.

How can the GOP endorse a man charged with over 10,000 documented falsehoods or misleading statements? Is truth no longer a requirement? Or a man who believes Vladimir Putin over U.S. intelligence? Or who denies global warming and promotes more coal burning? Or a president who separates families at the border and wants to deny asylum? Are these Republican values?

To rescue the party, Congressional Republicans need to speak out against this president and to promote the candidacy of a principled and competent Republican challenger in 2020. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst need to show some courage.

Harlan Graber

Mount Vernon