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.

Over the last three years, I have had a quizzical reaction to issue in this blog headline as I have watched President Donald Trump careen from one issue to another without any apparent regard for the fact that he looks and acts unhinged.

I use the word “careen” intentionally because it indicates he – Trump – has no central motivating commitment other than to aggrandize himself. Himself over the country!

He is unhinged.

Tony Schwartz, the author who helped Trump write the book, The Art of Deal (which I have not read), shows up this weekend with a piece in the Washington Post that, at least for me, helps to define Trump. [Schwartz is now chief executive of the Energy Project, which exists to help organization leaders and employees pursue healthier, happier, more productive and more meaningful lives.]

In the Post, the headline and subhead for the Schwartz piece is this:

Why Trump can’t change, no matter what the consequences are

Personal growth is about seeing more. The president is too self-absorbed for that.

Based on the Schwartz piece, I propose four traits that help explain Trump’s bizarre, “I’m the most important person in the room” behavior:

1. INSTANT GRATIFICATION: His need for instant gratification prevents him from considering the longer-term consequences of his actions. Instead, he simply reacts in the moment and this helps to explain why he moves into overdrive whenever he feels attacked, including by issuing an often-enormous number of tweets that attack his detractors.
2. PARANOIA: Throughout his adult life, Trump has viewed the world as a dark, dangerous place teeming with enemies out to get him. In the face of potential impeachment, his fear has escalated exponentially. The threat he imagines is no longer just to his fragile sense of self but, realistically, to his future as president.  Any capacity Trump ever had to think clearly or calmly has evaporated. Instead, he’s devolved into anger, blame, aggression and sadistic attacks.
3. THE REALITY OF UNREALITY: The only wall Trump has built is around himself, to keep his own insecurity and vulnerability at bay.  Ironically, his defense consistently produces precisely what it’s meant to protect against. That is just what happened when the Wall Street Journal broke the story of his attempt to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Hunter Biden, the son of presidential candidate Joe Biden.

And, the same thing happened when Trump suddenly decided to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, sparking opposition from many Republicans who previously had let Trump get away with murder – no exaggeration there.

4. DOUBLING DOWN: Facing threats to their businesses and uncertainty about the future, leaders sometimes double down on what’s worked best for them in the past. The problem is that any strength overused eventually becomes a liability.

Confidence turns into arrogance. Courage becomes recklessness. Certainty congeals into rigidity. Authority moves toward authoritarianism.

Consider each of those parallels and recognize that they accurately characterize Trump.

So, we have an unhinged president whose very acts aggravate the circumstances we face as a country. It’s beyond time for Congress, despite its often-seen political frailties, to rescue the country by convicting Trump in the impeachment process, thus removing him from office.

It won’t be easy, but doing the right thing never is, at least in politics.

For me, it is almost unthinkable to consider another year in office for Trump, not to mention a second term, for the worst American president in history.