In his recent Opinion column, Scot Lehigh is perplexed and puzzled about Donald Trump’s rising poll numbers and finds continued support for him by at least 40 percent of the electorate a “truly dismaying commentary about our country.’’ He asks what it “would take for Republicans to abandon this dishonest, divisive, dysfunctional president.’’ Just asking the question reveals how little he understands about the current state of politics in the United States.

Trump is all the things Lehigh says he is. But the government is hopelessly broken and dysfunctional too, and Americans wanted, and may still want, a bull in a China shop to disrupt things. Trump has done so. He is unconventional and is a stark contrast to traditional politicians.

People are tired of traditional politicians who pander and grandstand, who seek the moral high ground on every issue, and who are beholden to special interests and the less moderate primary voters. The question I would put to Lehigh is this: What’s the alternative? It seems that every one of the Democrats trying to replace him is a traditional politician — promising everything to everyone, including things they know can’t and won’t be accomplished.

The mistake people like Lehigh make is assuming all Trump supporters are uneducated angry white men. Not so — they’re people who are fed up with business as usual.

Bradley M. Lown

Portsmouth, N.H.