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.

It’s incredible to write the phrase in the headline.

We have a president who lies as a matter of instinct. It doesn’t matter what the subject is. Donald Trump lies about it.

Lying is second nature to him.

So, the lies are so frequent that no one – not those on the right or left – can trust him for truth and honesty.

Here’s the way Washington Post editorial writers put it this week:

“As President Trump zoomed past a lowly personal milestone — his 10,000th false or misleading statement in his 27-month-old presidency, according to The Post Fact Checker — he let fly a series of whoppers on a subject that logic would suggest he’d be better off leaving unremarked: Family separation.

“The president, whose own administration imposed and then rescinded a systematic policy of wrenching migrant children from their parents, with no protocol in place to reunite them, now poses as a paragon of compassion that ended cruel laws in place before he took office. This is false.”

Ten thousand lies!

These days, as he faces a re-election fight, Trump will be taking credit for the positive state of the country’s economy.

But he deserves almost no credit for the result. Economic growth has happened despite his absolutely unconventional approach to the nation’s highest political office. Or, according to a recent Washington Post poll – if polls matter at all these days – many in this country believe a positive economy only benefits those at the top, not middle or low-income America.

For me, character matters in public officials.

Trump has none.

I hope someone will rise up for the 2020 election and appeal to those in the middle who want productive, honest action from government officials at all levels.

And that includes a continuing focus on building a strong economy