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.

Here’s a confession: I did not read the full Mueller report.

But, summaries of it in both the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post (note that I go both ways on this by reading quality newspapers from the right and the left) confirm what we already knew – Trump is a dedicated liar. You cannot trust anything he says as he continues to run the federal administration as an infomercial for his Trump brand. Truth is not a barometer.

An easier way to understand all this: Read one of the most recent Doonesbury cartoons by Garry Trudeau.

Here are the words in the cartoon, which provides a clear picture of Trump, probably less well than seeing the drawings, but…:

Panel #1: In a press conference (by the way, this, itself, is a remote occurrence with Trump), Trump is asked this question. “Mr. President, as you close in on your historic 10,000^th, documented lie…”

Panel #2: The questioner – “Everyone is still marveling over the 104 lies you packed into your two-hour CPAC speech.”

Panel #3: Trump answers, “so.” The questioner again: “So many people wonder how you do it.”

Panel #4: The questioner – “Is it fair to say that lying for you is metabolic, involuntary, like breathing in and out?”

Panel #5: The questioner again – “…that, if deprived of lies, your ability to function would be totally compromised?”

Panel #6: Trump answers, “no.” And Roland Hedley says – “wow, another one.”

This illustrates a Trump trait. Lying is second nature to him. He doesn’t even have to think about it. The number Trump lies tells is too large even to count.

Consider the recent release of the Mueller report. Trump lied about that, too, which is no surprise.

It’s past time for American to have a leader they can trust to tell the truth, even if they disagree from time to time with the policies of a federal administration.

I continue hope Democrats will be smart enough to nominate someone who will be able both to thwart Trump, as well as appeal to Americans in the middle. That means that they, the Ds, must get away from tearing down the very fabric of this country by adopting policies and approaches that are so far left they don’t even appear on any political spectrum.

For me, either we’ll see smart Democrats or I’ll be finding a third-party candidate when 2020 rolls around.