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 to 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 press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon, as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as 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.

Donald Trump – some would call him president, but I reserve that title for someone who deserves it – got just what he wanted this week with a series of over-the-top, “I hate you” tweets.

First, he changed the debate to be about him, which he always wants as the self-defined narcissist – the smartest person in any room because it revolves around him.

Second, he managed to elevate the group of representatives – it is called “The Squad” – to be the face of the Democrat party.

One member of “The Squad,” Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, is exactly the kind of person Trump want to illustrate the Democrat Party.

Here is what political commentator Karl Rove said about Ocasio-Cortex in a recent piece for the Wall Street Journal:

“Representative Ocasio-Cortez is not a serious legislator but an unusually shallow poseur, the product of social-media culture. She offers slogans cribbed from the latest socialist bull session; wild utterances that receive enthusiastic nods from “woke” Democrats and looks of astonishment from much of Middle America.

“There are reasons why AOC, “The Squad” of her running buddies on the House’s far-left fringe, and their operatives are characterizing some less-liberal Democrat representatives as akin to 1940s Southern segregationists, threatening them with primary challenges, and even castigating Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a racist.

“They’re convinced the shock value of their attacks and radical ideas will give their movement dominance over the Democrat Party and the country.

“For now, they’re drowning out the Democrat presidential candidates. As these young representatives become the face of their party, they define it with their wackiness. Trump knows this, and he will take full advantage of their gift.”

Thus, Trump has achieved the goal of running against those four who all are American citizens, three from birth, but who advocate making America into a socialist country, not to mention a host of other wacky, far left wing ideas.

So, Trump will set out to energize his base, as well as “white America” to win another four years in the Oval Office.

The trouble is that Democrats, not just “The Squad,” but most others, are playing right into Trump’s hands. Rather than advocate policies that might convince voters to depart from Trump, they call him a racist, which might actually be true, but which only serves to tick off right-wing acolytes.