PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH 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.

Ever notice how often Trump talks in circles around himself, apparently getting lost in the jumble of his own words.

If he doesn’t know where he is going in his use of language, then others are lost, too.

And, when he doesn’t know where he will end up, the problems he creates often go beyond just words. Consider Trump’s recent “performance” in Helsinki when he sidled up to Vladimir Putin, committing what some have called near treason.

Columnist George Will put in very well in a recent column commenting on the incredibly poor performance by Trump in Helsinki.

“Precision is not part of Trump’s repertoire: He speaks English as though it is a second language that he learned from someone who learned English last week. So, it is usually difficult to sift meanings from Trump’s word salads.”

Again, if the risks with Trump were confined to words – misusing them and, often, failing to spell them accurately — that would be bad enough for the supposed leader of the free world.

But Christine Emba, writing in the Washington Post, indicates why the issues go farther than words.

“But there are words, and then there is the actual ‘job’ — that of improving the administration, seeking to change it or attending directly to the needs of those affected by its policies. The one can influence the other. Language changes how we think. When we use increasingly divisive and polarized language in the public square, we change how we are able to interact, discuss and exist together. The F-bombs and c-words are a distraction from the actual work that could be done and cut off possibilities for cooperation in the future. And, as professional entertainers should have figured out by now, they’re boring.”

Emba is right.

Words matter.

But actions, often buttressed by confusing words, matter more. And, on that score, as with language, Trump is an abject failure.