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.

Washington Post editorial writers have posted this axiom, which says volumes:

“There is an old Washington saying that if you’re arguing about process, you’re losing.”

That would apply to the 30 or so Republicans who stormed a House Intelligence Committee hearing in a secure Capitol facility, objecting that Democrats have, so far, conducted impeachment proceedings behind closed doors.

The stunt disrupted the testimony of Pentagon official Laura Cooper and temporarily distracted Washington from the evidence – and the roster of evidence is growing — of President Donald Trump’s misconduct.

The fact Trump’s Republican defenders are focusing on process, not substance, means the latter – substance – doesn’t matter, at least to Trump supporters.

Every day, the evidence mounts against Trump and, even White House strategists, if there are strategists in the White House at all, appear flummoxed about what to do or say. Plus, the Washington Post reports today that Republicans in the Senate are concerned about what new revelations will emerge about Trump’s misconduct.

This summary ran in the Washington Post over the weekend:

“Anyone who tried to follow the bouncing ball of Trump’s hourly utterances and tweets was doomed to fail, and there is no relief on the horizon. Simply tracking the provocations, contradictions and exhortations that fill the average day of this president can be an overwhelming task.”

“But,” the Post adds, “it has also become an increasingly consequential one as the impeachment case against Trump unfolds and his foreign policy decisions come under greater scrutiny both in the United States and abroad.

“He ordered a surprise withdrawal of troops from Syria, prompting immediate fighting, loss of life and a shift in the balance of power in the Middle East.

“He also announced his intent to award his own golf course a major federal contract for an international summit, and then reversed that decision days later amid criticism he was using the power of his office to help his struggling business.”

In all of this, by tweet and overstatement, Trump tries to control the news as he done so often as a reality TV star, not to mention president for now, what is it, three years. He often succeeds as many reporters focus on his provocations, not the substance of the charges against him.

Still, the weight of the evidence against Trump continues to mount. And that, for this country, is a good thing. Time to throw him out of office.