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.

I have not opened this department, which I direct, for several weeks. One reason is that I have spent a lot of time on the golf course during a spate of hot weather in Oregon, which means, for golf, that the ball travels farther.

Because the department has been closed for several weeks, there is a lot to report – written comments from columnists I trust who write well. I add my own comments in each case.

So, here goes – the department is open again.

From Dan Henninger in the Wall Street Journal: “A message to Republicans lost in the Trump fun house: Run on something solid. Run on something you understand. Join yourself at the hip with the greatest accomplishment of Donald Trump’s presidency. Run on America’s booming economy. (Footnote: For put-off GOP voters who need more reason to show up, the next 30 years of the Gorsuch-Kavanaugh court was why they signed on for this ride in 2016.)”

Comment: As usual, Henninger is very perceptive, though it strikes me that it should be obvious that real Republicans have a great message on which to run in the coming election cycle – the economy is humming along.

From Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post:  “Uncle Rudy used to be New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani long before becoming President Trump’s lawyer. What a difference 17 years makes. The commanding leader who helped America navigate the horror of 9/11 is again making the TV rounds, but this time he seems to be speaking English as a second language. Quite a few cable anchors were at risk of reversing their Botox injections as they attempted to follow what he was saying.”

Comment: Giuliani is nuts, almost as nuts as Trump. He can’t get his words straight as he is interviewed, so often calls back reporters to change or clarify his remarks. He says “collusion” is not a crime, but, of course, no matter the words, what Trump allegedly has done is at least a potential crime.

From George Will in the Washington Post:  “A more apt connection of current events to actual socialism was made by Senator Ron Johnson, the Wisconsin Republican, when President Trump decided to validate the conservative axiom that government often is the disease for which it pretends to be the cure. When the president decided to give farmers a $12 million bandage for the wound he inflicted on them with his splendid little (so far) trade war, and when other injured interests joined the clamor for comparable compensations, Johnson said, ‘This is becoming more and more like a Soviet type of economy here: Commissars deciding who’s going to be granted waivers, commissars in the administration figuring out how they’re going to sprinkle around benefits.’”

Comment: More stupid government. First, under Trump, it conducts trade war that adversely affects farmers. Then, he proposes to give them government money to offset the harm he has created. Round and round it goes.

From David Von Drehle in the Washington Post:  “Trump is the first president to make full use of digital media to go around established intermediaries such as the Washington press corps and the political parties. The smartphone in his hand allows him to broadcast his own messages unfiltered by interpreters, on his own schedule and in his own words.  Presidents have dreamed of this power for ages, but Trump was the one who realized that the same digital principles Amazon used to disrupt retail and Airbnb leveraged to upend the hotel business could be applied to political communication, given enough name recognition to get the ball rolling.”

Comment: For Trump, it’s either this tendency to go around the media to “his people,” or criticize the media as being only interested in what he calls “fake news…”which usually just means he disagrees with what’s being reported.

From former NBC journalist Ann Curry on a panel for Season 5 of “Finding Your Roots,” the PBS series in which prominent people learn facts about their ancestry:   “Curry learned news about her biological grandfather, which prompted the host to say: “We are a nation of immigrants.”

Comment: Well said! Trump can gain political advantage all day long for all I care as he rails against immigrants. But, we are a nation of immigrants. That fact should be kept squarely in mind.