Evolving, Kicking and Screaming Part I

FIFTY YEARS AND ONE MONTH AGO I was a high school senior, and enthusiastically supported President Richard M. Nixon for reelection. I'm not proud of that, and haven't been for a long, long time. But, soon enough, in retrospect, I learned my lesson, turned on Nixon, and became a liberal Democrat, almost as if overnight. But not really: I had been a fan of the Kennedys and the liberal agenda during the 1960s, so my progressive viewpoint was in evidence early. I liked a lot of things Nixon did during his first term, but Watergate did me in, as it did most Americans, rightfully so. I can't pin point a time or place where it happened, but it happened, over time. I turned into a Nixon despiser, like much of America. The condemnation by the American people of Richard Nixon did not occur overnight, but it became, ultimately, nearly unanimous. I changed. I evolved. What a sleazebag, that Trickie Dick. That sort of thing is precisely what amazes me about Trump followers; namely, their continued dovotion to him, after all that he's done. True enough, there has been over the past couple of years, and particularly just recently, a discernable decrease in support for Trump among Republicans, many of whom are more than ready to move on to the post Trump era, with new candidates and leaders promoting essentially the same agenda, "Trumpism". Basically, dump Trump, and all his past and future baggage, but keep the basic agenda. "Trumpism" can be defined as hostility to immigrants, disrespect for international alliances and expertise of all kinds, and winner take all unfettered free enterprise economy within a white patriarchal Christian culture. "Trumpism", in other words, is the idyllic past, a past which never truly existed, like the wild west and heroic frontier. For an American president, an American president, to refuse to accept his reelection defeat and to attempt to retain power by orchestrating a violent overthrow of the American government with the full support of tens of millions of Americans and their continued support..is..simply..shocking. A wild vicious fight for power and control of the Republican party seems imminent, since the pro Trump and anti Trump forces within the party are both strong; our best hope is that the struggle is so vicious that it rips the Republican party in its current incarnation to shreds, never to be seen again. And..again: who could have imagined that an American president would try to steal reelection, and violenlty overthrow the American government, and still retain a huge amount of political support from tens of millions of Americans? To all the frightening circumstances confronting us, that one is at least equal.