Empathizing, Somewhat, Introspectively

I WAS A SENIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL in 1972, and supported Nixon. Big mistake, in retrospect. As Goethe said: "Only by errors which really irk us do we advance." By the mid seventies, post Watergate, I had evolved into a progressive, who in those days were still called "liberals". I moved to Arkansas at about the time Bill clinton entered politics, and I supported his candidacy for president and him during his presidency, despite his relatively moderate and sometimes conservative policies. Despite the fact that Bill Clinton was, evidently, for most of his adult life a sexual predator, and, yes, a pedophile, with an "impressive resume'" of consistency; persistant sexual misbehavior. In all fairness and in my defense, I remained wholly unaware of all this until well until his time in office. the Monkia Lewinsky affair brought it to my attention. People I knew in Arkansas confirmed it. The Republicans, expediently, were all over it, much as they should now be in the case of Trump, but are not. A friend of mine, a rousing good fun loving fellow and fellow Clinton supporter, well into his cups, proclaimed his actual admiration of such behavior, I did not. But I didn't spend a whole lotta time and effort comdemning it either. I just sort of let it slide, as a peripheral issue, something which had little or nothing to do with Clinton's actual performance in office. The point here is that my behavior, it has now come to my attention, was very similar to that of today's Trump supporters. Maybe different, in degree and scope, but still, as Davy Crockett might say, "a mite too close for comfort." It seems that I am, somewhat belatedly, taking a look in the mirror. Oral sex in the Oval office holds no candle to Trump at his worst, but Clinton also seems to have done worse, much worse, including sex of the non consensual kind. So here I am, stuck in the middle with you, as the old rock song goes. I still tend to justify my support of Clinton, based on public policy, but I never defend him, or Hillary either for that matter. Her only apparent sins seem to be an unbridled lust for personal wealth and power. Fame for its own sake does not seem to be her game. Then too, Donald Trump's entire life, his every word and deed, are now fully revealed to have been and to still be so blatantly,reprehensibly vicious, cruel, and egregious, to name but a few of the relevant adjectives, that even as we speak I regard him as the most vile human being I have ever beheld, either in person or in history books. He possesses not a single redeeming quality. Clinton did, and still does. As he himselfsaid: "The Republicans spent seventy million dollars proving that I'm a sinner. The folks back in Arkansas could've told 'em that for free". I tell Trump supporters that their support of Trump is appropriate, for they remind me of Trump, and I mean it. They never seem to be flattered. I forgive my own relatively brand of hypocrisy in this matter like I forgive, say, Thomas Jefferson's, who was yet another complicated, contradictory human being. Trump is none of these things. He is an irredemable, blathering mentally ill reprobate with medicoare intelligence at best, who demostrates this to a "candid world", as Jefferson might say, daily... I'm still looking in the mirror, to the extent that I can stomach what I see, and I can see far beyond but not through or around my hypocrasy. In the end, I see a well intentiond if flawed human being. I highly recommend it, with a couple of cautionary caveats. To quote Goethe: "Know thyself? If I knew myself, I would probably run away." As Nietzsche warned: "If thou gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze into thee". And finally, perhaps in all our defense, again Goethe: "He loves not who does not regard the faults of the beloved as virtues." If nothing else, we can take solace in and celebrate our capacity to love anything at all, however undeserving of our love it, he, or she may be.