Trump's supporters still faithful. Until they're not.

Trump's supporters still faithful.  Until they're not.

Published in The Oregonian and in Oreglinonline

President Donald Trump sits at his desk Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)

By Guest Columnist

By Charles E. Kraus

To date, President Trump's people could still passively observe him pull out a gun and shoot someone strolling down New York's 5th Avenue.  And, Trump's detractors could still passively observe him pull out a gun and shoot himself on 5th Avenue.  In neither case would the partisans contact the authorities.

Word on the street is that Don has shaken the tree, and that those admirers who remain on the branches are with him until the blight.  Call me Ishmael, or call me late for dinner. Either way, I'm not inclined to agree with the prevailing sentiment.  

I'm thinking the following:

They loved Nixon.  Until they didn't.  

They were devoted to Dr. Cosby.  Until they weren't.

They were impressed by Charlie Rose.  Until they weren't.

McCarthy was allowed to foment distrust and suspicion.  He peddled fake revelations that were believed by millions.  Until they weren't.  

During the Vietnam era, most people were either passively or actively in favor of America's massive, deadly, expensive, ever-expanding, ever-failing efforts to involve the country in a quagmire of a war that had illusive goals, and that was based on home-grown propaganda and a  military industrial for profit complex.  

Those opposed were called radicals.  They were ignorant kids.  They were well-meaning, or duped softies.  Intellectuals who didn't know about the real world.  They were Commie sympathizers, and stooges programed by lefty facility and religious extremists.  My command suggested that when we returned from our tour, we refrain from wearing our uniforms while on leave so as to avoid getting spit upon.   

And then, late in the game, after death and destruction, agent orange, the My Lai Massacre, after Kent State, and Robert McNamara's endlessly duplicitous sightings of light at the end of the tunnel, the tide of public opinion changed.  The war became unpopular.  How unpopular? Unpopular enough for people to vote for Nixon, the guy who had the secret plan to end it.  His secret plan turned out to be to lose it, but at least -- and at last -- we were out.   

Strangely, over time, I met fewer and fewer individuals who had ever, in any way shape or form, been in favor of the war.  And equally amazing, it turned out that no one, not a soul, admitted to having voted for Nixon.  

People are in favor of things.  They sign on to, invest their status in, pledge and advocate opinions and theories, and what passes for facts.  Sometimes what is being supported is just a fad.  A brand.  The latest dance, diet, destination.   

Sometimes it is a popular leader who appears to be a god, until he is given a second look, and turns out to be a fanatic. The trick is to conduct the reevaluation before the damage is irreversible.  

Trump on 5th Avenue. That, in and of itself, may turn out to be a crime.  

Charles E. Kraus lives and writes in Seattle.