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.
This could be a long list – Americans President Donald Trump has criticized because they don’t agree with him.
But, for me, two of the most perplexing involve true American war heroes – the late Senator John McCain and the retired Special Forces officer, William McRaven.
On this Memorial Day, far better to honor their service.
Trump, who has no military service of any kind – he selfishly managed to avoid any obligation – has no standing to fire off criticisms of two military veterans who played major roles in preserving freedoms in the United States of America.
You can argue about Trump until you-know-what freezes over, but, if you were to defend Trump’s diatribes against McCain and McRaven, you would illustrate your own insensitivity, as well as failure to grasp history.
Trump’s criticism of McCain are well-documented.
I have no idea why Trump felt it necessary to say the McCain deserved no credit for his military service because “I (Trump) like people who weren’t captured.”
That McCain survived incredible torture at the hands of the Vietnamese and returned home to run for and win a U.S. Senate seat is the stuff of legend. Whether you agreed with him on policy issues or not, he was a true American hero.
The same can be said of McRaven, once the longest-serving Navy SEAL on active duty. He played key roles in thousands of dangerous missions abroad, including commanding the one that cost Osama bin Laden his life.
McRaven, who is retired, has warned that the greatest threat to American democracy he has seen during his decades in national security comes not from a rogue regime or a terrorist group but from the caustic rhetoric of Trump.
“An attack on the press or an attack on the Department of Justice, or to imply that there are dirty cops at the FBI or to ignore the intelligence community. Trump’s conduct really undermines our institutions,” McRaven told USA TODAY in an interview about his memoir, ‘Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations.’ “And that,” McRaven said, “makes me fearful of the future direction of the nation.”
McRaven’s service in daredevil missions includes the following: Intercepting Somali pirates, freeing American missionaries held hostage in the Philippines, interrogating Saddam Hussein and recovering long-frozen military remains in British Columbia.
Of course, Trump denigrates all of this, hammering both McCain and McRaven because they didn’t or don’t agree with him.
Trump’s behavior and conduct is all the more incredible to me as all of us, as Americans, look forward to celebrating Memorial Day on Monday. This is a time when we should respect the sacrifice of all those who served with distinction and honor.
That includes McCain and McRaven.
I’ll take their character any day over Trump, the buffoon who thinks he rises as he ridicules.
Perspective from the 19th Hole 
I couldn’t agree with you more, Dave.
You and I often come from opposite sides of the political spectrum, but we are of one mind about Donald Trump. His conduct as our nation’s chief executive is embarrassing.