To the editor:

The last two presidential candidates put forward by the Democrats demonstrated nothing but disdain for the inhabitants of “flyover country.” In 2008 candidate Obama said: “You go into … a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years … “they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion …”

In September, 2016 candidate Clinton said, “You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables,” “Now, some of those folks — they are irredeemable…”

The Democrat elites are now promoting eliminating the Electoral College and would use only the popular vote in presidential elections. This would give excessive control and political benefits to our coastal cities, states and possibly interior Chicago. To support any politician who would be part of a party that would even consider doing that seems to be foolish in the extreme. Every tax, subsidy or regulation, however written, has a constituency and too many benefit a very narrow group.

Eliminating the Electoral College would reduce “flyover countries” already tenuous ability to enjoy a fair share of the US economy. In the US we have the greatest number of millionaires in the world but our wealth inequality is growing. This at a time when the middle class share of our country’s wealth ranks us 21’st in the world, behind most of the industrialized countries. President Trump needs our support as he protects our interests and attempts to recover much of “flyover countries” industrial base.

Vern Clobes

New Ulm/Cocoa Beach, Fla.