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.

To say that Trump goes overboard is an understatement.

He did so again yesterday when he had the temerity in Europe to suggest that “Britain should go for a no-deal Brexit with the European Union and refuse to pay the agreed upon” money in the divorce bill.

I write this as I am sitting on the Scenic Amber, our river cruise ship as we travel down the Danube toward Budapest.

Now, what I know about Brexit could be written on the head of a pin – or least summarized in Wall Street Journal and Washington Post newspapers, which I read daily.

But, the following Trump comment says volumes:

In negotiating deals when it comes to Brexit, Trump said, “If they don’t get what they want, I would walk away. If you don’t get the deal you want, then you walk away.”

That is not negotiating.

It is juvenile behavior. It’s the “take your toys and go home when you don’t get what you want” idea.

Trump fancies himself a supreme negotiator.

He is not.

He is a dictator.

I can hear him saying, “I want what I want and I am going to get it whether you like it or not.”

No wonder leaders in Congress have difficulty negotiating with Trump.

Some say it is like “negotiating with jello. Poke it one way and it pops out the other way.”

Let’s say that, in “negotiating” with Trump, you establish a tentative agreement somewhere in the middle. You get something. You give something.

For Trump, this agreement represents only a new floor. He then ups the ante as he tries to get what he wants, no matter what the other side wants.

That’s not negotiating. It’s just another sign that Trump is not up to holding the top political job in the U.S.

I wish he would shut up in the United Kingdom. Too much to ask, you say. No doubt. But at least that’s half-way around the world and not at home where what he says would tend to matter more because a variety of folks pay attention him,

In the U.K., not so much.