Going Before A Fall

THE DEEPENING ENDURING MYSTERY of Donald Trump's uflagging support despite his blatantly despicable moral character and criminality. has been explainedin terms of the moral bankruptcy of his followers, their intellectual shortcomings, so often that the have long since become redundant. An enqually revealing analysis might be helpful if the situation is seen from the point of view of basic human nature. Pride, and the fear of being vulnerable have been suggested as relevant factors, the feeling of being in a trap with no way to escape except to stay the ourse, consequences by damned ,and if the ship goes down, go down with it, salvaging pride if little else. At this late stage of the game, to renounce Trump after supporting him through his tempestuous political career means that you have been made a fool, have been played like a violin, and are now exposed, your glaring mistake of judgment a weakness there for all to see. When Nixon ran for reelection I was a senior in high school. My friends and I all supported "Trickie Dick" "Reelect the President!" was our rallying cry. We handed out pamphlets and "Nixon now more than ever"lapel buttons, went door to door, touting the virtues of the man we saw as the right leader for America. Boy, were we ever wrong. Nonetheless he won by a landslide. Not only were we wrong, most of America was wrong. By late 1974 Nixon had resiged the presidency in ignomonious humilaion, and was the most hated manin America, and among the most hated in history. Nixon supporters abandoned him with no hesitation, dropped him like a bad habit, as we used to say. I've been a Democrat ever since.But Nison was nothng but a normal politician, who rose and fell with the political tides. Trump is something different. Trump has all the characteristics of a true demagogue, the sort of aura of transcendant importance that Hitler enjoyed. The dynamic, of a great leader of the people, a conservative populist appealing directly to the people, scorning elitism in all its forms, standing tall against the forces of evil, ready, determined, and able to make his country great again,against all oppsition. The fatherland was once great and glorious, but has fallen on hard times and sunk to a low level due to both internal and external enemies, both of which must be vanquished. Hitler's catch phrase? "Make Germany great again". You needn't hate Trump to make and see this comparison.Its too obvious to ignore. We must hope that Trump's inevitable demise, his crashing and burning, now well underway, hits rock bottom and lands more softly and painlessly than did Hitler's.