PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.
With nothing else to do a few days ago as I waited for a flight to the mainland from Hawaii, I thought of some words to describe Donald Trump who is just starting his second year in the presidency.
Then, I wanted until returning to post this blog and what I hear – Trump sounding like a California valley girl in the 1990s by saying, “Like, I’m really smart, a very stable genius.”
Like, say what? If you have to say you’re a genius and add to that you are stable, then you aren’t either.
It’s hard to realize that we have survived one year of this president who has changed the office for the worse during his first 12 months there. Now, only three more to go.
I suppose it would be possible for fans of Trump to laud a few achievements – getting Judge Neil Gorsuch confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, working with Congress to pass the most wide- ranging tax reform since the Reagan years, and rolling back portions of the huge regulatory burden left by former President Barack Obama.
But, he has almost continually sabotaged his own agenda by tweets that not long lacked decorum, but also impugned the integrity of those named in the tweets. You might contend that Kim Jong un from North Korea has no integrity, deserved to be impugned, and that it was right for Trump to roast him in tweets. But one risk is that those tweets, alone, could increase the chance of nuclear war between two immature combatants – and Trump even contended that his “button” was bigger than Jon un’s.
At any rate, with so much time on my hands, I made a list of words that I have used to describe Trump, over the last year.
Buffoon
Egotist
Shallow
Daft
“It’s all about me”
Ignorant
Arrogant
Liar
Blowhard
Idiot
Racist
Misogynist
Egomaniac
Bombastic
Clown
Obnoxious
Delusional
Unqualified
Repulsive
Pompous
Incompetent
These are words that are not presidential. We deserve better. There is decorum to observe in the nation’s highest political office and Trump observes none of it.
Say what you will about Trump’s “achievements.” For me, they pale in comparison to his “it’s all about me” attitude.
Perspective from the 19th Hole 