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.

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.

The church my wife and I have attended for more than 30 years, Salem Alliance Church emphasizes an important mission statement:

“We aspire to be a city at peace with God.”

Aspirations for being a city at peace with God could flow from a Hebrew word, shalom, which sounds a bit like Salem and means this according to the dictionary:

“Many are familiar with the Hebrew word shalom or ‘peace. ‘ The common western definition of peace is — the absence of conflict or war — but in Hebrew it means so much more. ‘Shalom’ is taken from the root word shalam, which means, ‘to be safe in mind, body, or estate.’”

The lead pastor at Salem Alliance, Steve Fowler, emphasizes the phrase, but also lives it by organizing various programs, missions and events that link the church to the city.

And remember that Salem Alliance made an intentional decision about 20 years ago, when I was chair of the Governing Board, to remain in the center of the city rather than move out to the outskirts.

Our intention, then and now, was to function as a solid neighbor in the Grant Neighborhood, including Grant School, which sits only a couple blogs east of the church.

It is noteworthy to emphasize peace in a day when peace tends to be in short supply, either in terms of wars around the world or in the “war” citizens deal with as a result of corrupt politics – Donald Trump who has demeaned the Oval Office and many Democrats who cannot find reasonable ways to oppose him.

An organization called Salem Leadership Foundation (SLF) also emphasizes peace in Salem as it has moved, successfully over the years, to bring people together, not tear them apart.

The leader of the non-profit enterprise is Sam Skillern, whom I have known and respected for years, including when I was privileged to serve on the SLF Board.

Here is the way he put his aspiration in a recent e-mail message:

“A book crossed my desk last year. It was called The Outward Mindset and points us away from being “inward” (i.e. self-centered and selfish) to a perspective that is other-oriented and collaborative.

“In the words of Jesus, ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself.’  So instead of seeing other people as, 1) assets I exploit for my gain, 2) obstacles in my way, or 3) objects I blame for my failures, we are challenged to view others as people-of-value whom we can serve and collaborate with for rich, mutual benefit.

Skillern appreciates the commitment Mountain West Investment Corporation, which has provided the accredited staff for training and mentoring through the commitment of its leader, Larry Tokarski, whom I am privileged to call a friend.

“For years,” Skillern says, “I’ve floated the idea that virtually every ministry, non-profit, municipality, business, agency and organization in Salem-Keizer all share the same core mission:  The health and well-being of our community.

“In other words, Shalom.  With an outward mindset, we can get there together.”

Good words from Skillern and those who have helped him pass the Shalom message around Salem.

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.

The headline for this blog this morning captures an unfortunate, not to mention foreboding, reality in this country. It is this:

Trump wins because debates Democrats hold illustrate they cannot get their act together to propose a candidate who is not so far left as to be off the political spectrum. Given this reality, even centrist Americans could be drawn toward Trump, which could have continued with the most current date now just concluded.

In a piece this week for the Wall Street Journal, Bobby Jindal, the former governor of Louisiana, put it this way:

“Lots of voters dislike the president, but will be convinced to vote for him by seeing his opponents.”

That’s why, from my post in the cheap seats out West, I have hoped for months, if not years, that a centrist candidate would emerge who would call Americans to love their country rather than, figuratively at least, yell on every street corner about how anyone who doesn’t agree with them are nuts.

Or, as is manifestly the case with Trump, put themselves first and the country be damned.

More from Jindal: “The Republican National Committee should offer to be the official sponsor of a weekly Democrat presidential debate. There would be no better advertisement for President Trump’s re-election. Every time the Democrat presidential contenders gather together, it’s a contest between the merely delusional, the vaguely vindictive, and the patently absurd.”

There was no better example of this when D presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke recently outlined his proposal to tax religious institutions that don’t approve of same sex marriage.

O’Rourke is the one who interpreted his failed Senate campaign as a steppingstone to the presidency, including foul-mouthed language on the campaign trail – in that way, much like Trump.

“This,” according to Washington Post writer Michael Gerson, “is not the normal substance of presidential ambitions. Few young people nursing political dreams say: “When I grow up, I want to be a foul-mouthed, overreaching, anti-religious culmination of every exaggerated liberal stereotype and the embodiment of every fevered conservative nightmare.”

Some responsible Democrat, Gerson adds, needs to sit O’Rourke down and tell him it is not worth winning the Democrat nomination in ways that guarantee a re–election landslide for Trump. And that it is not worth losing the Democrat nomination in ways that badly hurt the eventual Democrat nominee.

More from Gerson: “The loyalty and enthusiasm of Trump’s base of support in the GOP — especially among white evangelicals — are ensured by apocalyptic fears. The election of a Democrat president, the story goes, would end America as we know it and usher in an era of anti-Christian persecution. By this logic, many conservative Christians view Trump as a thug who fights in their favor.”

I hope that Trump’s recent stupidity regarding Syria, leaving the Kurds to fend for themselves and freeing ISIS for more tyranny, will prompt Trumpians, finally, to reflect on their often unthinking support.

If not, it should, even as many Republicans in Congress are leaving Trump alone, if only on the Syria cave-in.

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.

“He was hectoring and imperious. He was domineering and defiant. And he was audacious and cavalier.

“In the nearly three weeks since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened an impeachment inquiry, President Trump has struck a posture of raw aggression. His visceral defenses of himself — at the most vulnerable point of his presidency — have shined a spotlight on Trump’s state of mind.

“Like an aging rock star, the president is now reprising many of the greatest hits from his hellion days. He has bullied and projected — at times leveling against others the very charges he faces — while simultaneously depicting himself as a victim. And he has turned to ominous depictions of America, and in moments sounded an authoritarian tone.”

That’s a good description of the person who, incredibly, occupies the Oval Office, with all the risks his conduct portends for America.

In a piece for the Washington Post, two writers – Ashley Parker and Phillip Bump – do a good job of cataloging Trump’s unhinged approach.

Trump is so unhinged that it does strikes me as plausible to say that he has a “state of mind.” Instead, he flies by the seat of his pants, uttering through tweets, whatever happens to enter his mind at any point in the process regardless of the result.

Incredibly, only five days after the impeachment inquiry began, Trump sent forth a torrent of four dozen tweets and re-tweets, making it, at the time, the third most prolific day of tweeting of his entire presidency.

Then, the next day, Trump passed that previous milestone with 59 total tweets, including 33 in just 20 minutes. All told, in the week before the launch of the inquiry, Trump averaged 18 tweets per day.

Here, then, is a summary of the Trump traits Post writers Parker and Bump describe.

Martyr

Trump strode onstage to rapturous applause at a packed arena in Minneapolis Thursday night ostensibly to campaign for re-election in 2020. But he was obsessed instead with the 2016 election, delivering a jeremiad of persecution and self-pity.

The president cast himself as the ultimate victim of harassment from congressional Democrats, the intelligence community and the media.

Victimization has long been central to Trump’s political identity, rooting him in the grievance politics of the right and inspiring in his millions of followers a duty to protect the president from any perceived threat. But Trump’s feelings of oppression and persecution have been especially pronounced during the impeachment crisis.

Heckler

It was another episode of “Chopper Talk” — Trump’s freewheeling question-and-answer sessions with reporters before he boards the Marine One helicopter — only this time the president was especially agitated. He strode back and forth and sliced the air with his hands.

As has long been his habit, Trump has applied derogatory nicknames to his impeachment antagonists. Schiff is “Shifty Schiff,” Pelosi is “Nervous Nancy” and Senator Mitt Romney, the Republican most outspoken about Trump’s conduct, is “Pompous Senator.”

Autocrat 

In Trump’s “great and unmatched wisdom,” he is a leader to be obeyed.

In fact, the president offered that self-assessment in response to criticism of his decision to remove U.S. troops from northern Syria and, in doing so, abandon a longtime critical ally.

“As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!),” Trump tweeted.

But the general sentiment also reflected the often-defiant posture Trump has adopted while facing impeachment, a “Dear Leader” tone more associated with an authoritarian regime than a democracy.

Projectionist 

If the Twitterati takeaway of Trump’s news conference with Niinistö was that the president was having a #TrumpMeltdown, in Twitter parlance, Trump had a different view of the situation: It was Schiff who was imploding.

In response to a question about whether the White House would comply with House subpoenas, Trump accused Schiff of having “some kind of a mental breakdown.”

The tactic is one long-favored by Trump, in which he takes a charge or accusation leveled against him and wields it like a cudgel back on a perceived foe, even in cases where the counter-assault may seem hypocritical or preposterous.

Conspiracist 

Trump decried the impeachment effort against him as a “coup.” He accused the intelligence community whistleblower — as well as the whistleblower’s sources — of spying on him and committing “treason.” He described the impeachment process being run by Pelosi and Schiff as “a totally compromised Kangaroo court.”

To Trump, the impeachment probe is evidence of a plot to remove him from office, part of a dystopian alternate reality he is combating with ominous language and dark proclamations.

Perhaps most ominously, Trump has warned of a civil war. On September 29 — a day of extreme presidential angst as measured by his near-record output of tweets — Trump shared the warning with his 65.6 million followers.

So, for me, there is little question but that Trump is unhinged.   He cannot focus on his job given his negative mental health status. And that leaves all of us in jeopardy.

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.

Definitions:

• Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultra-nationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society, and of the economy, which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.
• Nazism is the body of political and economic doctrines held and put into effect by in Germany from 1933 to 1945, including the totalitarian principle of government, predominance of especially Germanic groups assumed to be racially superior, and supremacy of the Führer.

Those definitions could just as well characterize the United States in the reign of one Donald Trump as they did with Italy and Germany in the 1930s and 1940s.

So it is that the question in the headline is one that has perturbed me for three years now as we have seen Trump careen from one issue to another, mimicking either Fascism or Nazism, take your pick – and risking the very future of American democracy.

All of this came to mind again this weekend as I read a piece in the Wall Street Journal by Federico Finchelstein, author of a new book, “From Fascism to Populism in History.” Here is how Finchelstein started his piece:

“Despite the growing allegations about his misconduct, President Trump remains idolized by many of his supporters. His campaign rallies feature fans whose devotion is unwavering. These expressions of love should be concerning. They share features with the unconditional form of love typical of political cults that has often manifested in dangerous ways.

“Idolizing the ‘leader’ is a key dimension of fascism. In the 1930s and 1940s, different fascist leaders inspired cults of personality, which came in different colors across the globe. In China, supporters of Chiang Kai-shek wore blue shirts, while Brazilian supporters of Plínio Salgado wore integralista green shirts. Argentina’s dictator Jose F. Uriburu, Romania’s Corneliu Codreanu and Spain’s Francisco Franco similarly inspired loyal followings.

‘Supporters of fascism fervently believed in the heroic, even god-like nature of their leaders. Joseph Goebbels, the infamous Nazi propaganda minister, wrote in his diaries about his feelings for Adolf Hitler: ‘I love him … I bow to the greater man, to the political genius.’ Such devotion ultimately allowed leaders to insulate themselves from criticism and accountability.”

Finchelstein’s piece conjured up renewed images for me of comparisons between Nazi leader Adolph Hitler and Trump, though I suppose similar comparisons could be said to exist between Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and Trump.

As I wrote in a previous blog:

• Like Hitler, Trump has watched approvingly as his followers use violence to silence hecklers, dissenters and protesters.
• Like Hitler, Trump appeals to a specific race – his race — as being above all others and, thus, wants to subjugate the “others,” even to near-death.
• Like Hitler, Trump offers few real plans or strategies for confronting the nation’s challenges, giving voters instead the assurance that he, by force of his personality alone, will solve them. Of course, he never does, believing that he benefits more from the problem than any solution.
• Like Hitler, Trump has presented the electorate a scapegoat for its fears and vulnerabilities. Hitler gave the Germans the Jews. Trump has given the U.S. the immigrants.
• Like Hitler, Trump proposes to register and restrict the immigrants whom he condemns as all being criminals, even though most of them simply seek a better life in this country.
• Like Hitler, Trump views everything through his own lens – and he is always front and center. This is one of the clearest illustrations of what a narcissist is. Hitler was one. Trump is another.

Now, as the impeachment process grinds away in the U.S. House, subject of course, to a vote in the U.S. Senate, Trump is on rampage again, coming across as a victim and using the most incendiary language to inflame the passions of his supporters.

He likens what is happening to him to a “witch hunt “or a “coup,” and believes Democrats are out to get him.

Here’s the way veteran political reporter Dan Balz put it in a piece for the Washington Post:

“The president’s behavior gives expression to the judgment he seems to have reached, that what he faces is not going away and requires him to fight back with all the energy he can muster. The urgency and defensiveness of his statements and the sharpness of his attacks on those who are closing in on him underscore the frustrations and anger.”

So, for me, I still wonder how Trumpians can stand by “their leader.” I also wonder how extreme Trump will get, either to curry more favor from supporters or castigate detractors.

I hope we don’t have to find out, but I fear we will.

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.

In this space, I usually write from my own perspective, sometimes prompted by what various political commentators say.

After all, I am a political junkie, having been in and around politics for more than 40 years, so staying a bit involved after retirement three years ago is not necessarily unusual.

As I have watched the impeachment process unfold over the last few weeks in Washington, D.C., one particular fact impresses me. It is this. The more we learn through the process, the most Senate Republicans will face a huge decision regarding President Donald Trump when, as is likely, impeachment articles are forwarded to the Senate from the House.

As facts keep flowing out about the over-the-top behavior, illegal behavior of Trump, his normal allies in the Senate will have to decide whether to remain unflinchingly loyal to him.

To illustrate what is at stake for Senate Republicans, there is no better way to do so than to reprint excerpts from a column by Washington Post writer Michael Gerson.

Here is what he wrote under this headline:

If Republicans stay loyal to Trump, they’ll be implicated in the moral decay of our politics

“When it come to President Trump, it is increasingly difficult to distinguish between a political strategy and a nervous breakdown. His tweeted trash talk, his meandering stream of consciousness media availabilities and his shameless embrace of sleaziness are not the signs of a healthy mind. Trump’s followers might eventually look up to find they were actors in someone else’s delusion.

“But Trump’s recent self-defenses at least clarify his ambitions as an ethicist. Concerning the Ukraine scandal, the president is not seeking forgiveness for a failure in judgment or even trying to change the subject. He boldly asks Americans to accept that his actions — pressuring a foreign power to investigate a domestic political rival — were good and proper.

“’I don’t care about [Joe] Biden’s campaign,’ Trump insists, ‘but I do care about corruption.’ And there was ‘tremendous corruption with Biden.’”

“Trump is effectively setting a new standard of political morality and requiring his supporters to defend it. He is asking elected Republicans, in particular, to agree with his claim that a practice uniformly viewed as corruption in the past is actually an example of fighting corruption now. That is the little thing, the small thing, which Trump demands of his followers: To call hot cold. To call black white. To call wrong right.

“Trump holds no objective, abstract beliefs about the meaning of justice or duty. He approves of things that help him and disapproves of things that hurt him. There is no other moral grounding. Yet, he makes his assertions with utter confidence.

“The president currently claims that asking a dependent government to dig up dirt on a political rival is a good thing, even when it involves the implication of extortion. He makes no argument about why the traditional definition of corruption has changed. He feels no need. The shift is in his interest. And that is enough to require the assent of his followers.

“Elected Republicans, as a result, are looking mighty uncomfortable. Mouthing the words that Trump wants from them — saying that corruption is really anti-corruption — would mean sounding like a fool and surrendering what remains of their political honor.

“Republicans are being called to follow their leader down a relativist rabbit hole. Trump is not only asking them to accept his arguments on policy matters such as building a wall or provoking a trade war. To be loyal foot soldiers, they must affirm that morality means what Trump says it means — even when it violates their clearest instincts. They know, deep down, that if a Democratic president had asked France or China for help in destroying a prominent Republican rival, they would be in a fever pitch of outrage. But, in the Trump era, this isn’t supposed to matter anymore. Consistency means nothing. Principle means nothing. Character means nothing. It only matters who wins.

“Many Republicans would dearly like to say: What Trump did is wrong, but it doesn’t rise to an impeachable offense. There are two problems with this approach: First, Trump will not regard this as evidence of sufficient loyalty; he demands full approval. And, second, I imagine that most of the founders would regard Trump’s act — inviting a foreign country to influence an American election — as the definition of an impeachable offense. If their intent means anything, it means Trump is seriously corrupt.

“So we are left with positions that can’t be reconciled. Trump honestly seems to have no moral objection to what he did. His opponents are left sputtering, ‘But this has always been seen as serious corruption!’ The president simply doesn’t care. And, if his GOP supporters remain loyal, they will be further implicated in the moral decay of American politics.”

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.

The Department of Bits and Pieces is open again. It one of three I run, with enough time in retirement to do so.

ATLANTIC MAGAZINE STORY ON AMAZON CEO: Jeff Bezos, the CEO of super-power corporate titan Amazon, is the subject of a major story in the magazine.

By major, I mean two things – long and, at times, tedious.

Amidst all of the comments on Bezos, this one caught my attention:

“Amazon has a raft of procedures to guide its disparate teams. Bezos insists that plans be pitched in six-page memos, written in full sentences, a form he describes as “narrative.” This practice emerged from a sense that PowerPoint had become a tool for disguising fuzzy thinking. Writing, Bezos surmised, demands a more linear type of reasoning. As John Rossman, an alumnus of the company who wrote a book called Think Like Amazon, described it, “If you can’t write it out, then you’re not ready to defend it.” The six-pagers are consumed at the beginning of meetings in what Bezos has called a “study hall” atmosphere. This ensures that the audience isn’t faking its way through the meeting either. Only after the silent digestion of the memo—which can be an anxiety-inducing stretch for its authors—can the group ask questions about the document.”

COMMENT: I like the intention – getting someone to write summaries as a way to spur critical thinking.

Without comparing myself to Bezos, writing as a way to think clearly is a long-held bias of mine.  When I was interviewing candidates for state government positions or positions in the public relations and lobby firm I started with two partners, I always asked the candidates to write something as a way to see how they thought and how they performed under pressure.

COLUMNIST THIESSEN ON TRUMP MISTAKE IN SYRIA: The columnist, Mark Thiessen, who sometimes defends Trump, even in the pages of the Washington Post, goes after Trump’s Syria stupidity this morning.

Here are excerpts of what Thiessen wrote:

“President Trump has defended his shameful abandonment of our Kurdish allies in Syria, declaring that “I was elected on getting out of these ridiculous endless wars” that have left America “bogged down, watching over a quagmire.” Listening to the president, Americans might think that we still have large numbers of U.S. troops fighting on fronts across the Middle East. We do not.

“The days when we deployed hundreds of thousands of troops in the Middle East are long gone. Today, we have 14,000 troops in Afghanistan, about 5,000 in Iraq and just 1,000 in Syria. That is a grand total of about 20,000 troops in all three countries. By contrast, we have about 37,950 U.S. troops in Germany, 12,750 in Italy, 53,900 in Japan, and 28,500 in South Korea — a total or over 133,000. In fact, we now have three times more troops deployed in Spain (3,200) than we do in Syria.

“The cry that America is fighting “endless wars” is a canard. Our force levels in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are a shadow of their former selves, and U.S. forces are not doing the fighting but rather arming and training allies who are doing the fighting for us. That is the right strategy. But after watching Trump abandon our allies in Syria to be slaughtered, why would anyone step forward to help America in the fight against Islamist radicalism? The president can’t have it both ways. If you don’t want American forces fighting ‘endless wars,’ then you can’t betray your allies.”

COMMENT: Flying by the seat of your pants, especially in cases of national security, is a prescription for failure. But that’s what Trump does all the time, preferring to go his own, shameful way rather than reading anything about history or listening to experienced national security advisers.

AND MORE ABOUT THE SYRIA MISTAKE: Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan does her usual masterful job of skewering Trump when she writes:

“The Syria decision contributes to the hardened impression that in foreign policy he’s all impulse, blithely operating out of his depth. It adds to the hardening suspicion that in negotiations he’s not actually tough; he’ll say yes to a lot of things, and some very bad things, to get the deal, the photo-op, the triumphant handshake.

“Foreign-policy decisions in this administration look like the ball in a pinball machine in some garish arcade with flashing lights and some frantic guy pushing the levers ping ping ping and thinking he’s winning.”

COMMENT: Trump, again, is all about his own perception, not any kind of reality. That is a prescription for failure – and Trump is guilty, which ought to resonate in the coming presidential election.

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.

It’s surprising, but perhaps should not be, that a great quote says volumes.

Better than a lot of words, which could be advice to me because I like words, sometimes too many of them.

One of my favorite quotes of all time was uttered by General Colin Powell a number of years ago when he declined to run for president when he “bemoaned the loss of civility in politics.”

Imagine what Powell would say today.

Or this one from former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, again dealing with the now-lost art of civility:

“Unfortunately, civility is hard to codify or legislate but you know it when you see it.  It’s possible to disagree without being disagreeable.”

Now, another new, great quote was contained in a Washington Post article yesterday.

“No one is empowered to speak for Trump but him,” a Republican congressional aide told me, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to speak publicly. “People are afraid to say too much because it might be irrelevant in the next two minutes.

“Any messaging product that the White House puts out is as useful as a lighthouse in Kansas.”

Nothing more needs to be said.

Or, for those who may not appreciate analogies – ever heard of a lighthouse in Kansas? Nor have I.

That quote may be enough, but in trUE fashion, I persevere by calling out Trump’s behavior as the impeachment inquiry widens – often due to his own over-the-top behavior – and even as support for impeachment grows among Americans, according to several new polls.

As a now-retired public relations/lobbying executive, I used to counsel clients about how to deal with the media. If I was working for Trump – perish the thought; I never would – he violates all of the advice I would provide.

Here’s how.

• He intentionally foments controversy in a blatant attempt, often successful, to steer focus away from his own misdeeds.
• He debases his office by the most vulgar comments on record for any president in history.
• If someone has the temerity to disagree with him, he criticizes them in over-the-top words, the best example of which is his ridicule of the late Senator John McCain, even after McCain’s death.
• He intentionally violates laws because, as he contends, he can do what he wants as president.
• He intentionally violates all conventional and constitutional norms of any leader of the Executive Branch.

Before Trump was elected, if anyone would have described his behavior and actions in this way, that person would have been presumed to be crazy. Not so much, it turns out.

So, to repeat the quote, “any messaging the White House puts out is as useful as lighthouse in Kansas.”

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.

The iconic series of golf courses on the South Oregon Coast – Bandon Dunes — come in for various plaudits, well deserved, I think, in the current issue of Links Magazine.

The writer, Graylin Loomis, starts his story this way:

“Twenty-one years ago, Bob “Shoe” Gaspar delivered a load of mulch to a construction site just south of North Bend on Oregon’s southern coast. Unsure of what was being built, he walked over a dune and saw a half-finished golf course. There was no clubhouse, the back nine was dirt, the front nine was being cleared of trees. But that was enough. Gaspar could tell that whatever he was looking at was going to be something special, so he quit his job as a truck driver and went to work at what he soon learned was to balled Bandon Dunes. He became employee number two.”

Good story and, as usual, Loomis has a solid way to describe a piece of ground in human terms.

Twenty years later, Bandon Dunes today has become a national, if not international, landmark in the world of golf.

What started as one course – Bandon Dunes – became three more full-fledged courses, plus an acclaimed putting green, a par-three course, and a practice area to die for – if you are a golfer.

The development is a tribute to Michael Keiser, who made his fortune in the recycled greeting cards business – whatever that is – but then made substantial investments in golf venues.

It started with Bandon Dunes, but then branched out into Nova Scotia and Wisconsin and may soon add the Caribbean, New Zealand and even Scotland – and I use the word “even” because Keiser says he developed “links-style” golf patterned after great courses in golf’s homeland, Scotland.

One reality I like about Bandon Dunes is that it is an accurate approximation of links golf in Scotland – and I say that after having had the privilege of playing golf in Scotland five times.

“My initial vision,” Keiser says, “was to find a sand-based site somewhere in the world that reminded me of the great links courses in the British Isles.”

He succeeded, perhaps beyond even his own wildest dreams. Can you imagine the scene when Keiser, reportedly, hired a small plane to take an aerial view of the coastal property, then said, “I want to buy that?”

He made the purchase and the rest is history.

Initially, he and his colleagues projected about 12,500 rounds annually on the first course, Bandon Dunes, designed by Scottish architect, David Kidd, who now makes his home in Central Oregon.

Not 12,500. Instead, 35,000 rounds in the first year. Now, each of the four cases at Bandon – Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails and Old MacDonald — logs about 35,000 rounds a year.

Plus, a new, full course is under construction. It will be called Bally Bandon and should be open soon.

In its previous life, many of us called it “The Sheep Ranch.” A few years ago, Bill Swancutt, the superintendent at my home course in Salem (Illahe Hills), was able to make arrangements for us to play The Sheep Ranch.

We traveled to the South Coast to see the course first hand and, on the day we were there, we were the only players on the course.

The person who let us in the gate to the course said he was the superintendent and that he had the greatest job in the world – working on a golf course, with few, if any, golfers.

As we stood on a promontory looking out west to the Pacific Ocean, The Sheep Ranch superintendent handed us a piece of paper. On it, he had scrawled a written description of how to play 15 holes. In the distance, we saw about 15 flags, noting that called them “golf holes,” though fairways were not visible.

He suggested a routing, then said that, when we finished playing a hole, we should find a plot of flat ground near the green we had just played and hit from there to the next hole. [No range finders, by the way, just Ben Hogan-like eyesight.]

And, the super suggested, after 15 holes, just make a routing of your choice over the last three holes to get in a full 18.

Great fun!

And, my goal is now to head south to play Bally Bandon as soon as it is open.

Overall, golfers from around the world continue flock to Bandon Dunes, which has given the area, still trying to recover from the demise of the timber and fishing industries, a hand-hold on a new economy.

To put a point on it, there are former loggers and fishermen who are functioning as caddies.

Great place – Bandon Dunes. Worth the trip!

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.

As Donald Trump ran for and then became president, he relied on a catch-phrase – ‘Let’s Make America Great Again.’

Well, in the last three-plus years, the goal has not been achieved.

It’s Trump First, not America first.

Trump has made himself “first” by selling out America to those who would do his bidding, as well as to international despots who would give him what he wanted in return, which is personal aggrandizement.

In another column this week, Washington Post writer Dana Milbank made this point in substantial and excruciating detail.

“At the core of the impeachment inquiry — indeed, at the core of almost every complaint about this president, Milbank wrote, “is one simple truth: Donald Trump is not a patriot.

“I don’t question that on some level he loves his country. I just know that he loves himself more. Again and again, he has harmed the nation’s interests to further his own.”

The most recent example is when Trump appealed to a leader in Ukraine to dig up direct on Democrat presidential candidate, Joe Biden. That, in turn, sparked the current impeachment inquiry in the U.S. House, which Trump believes illustrates a “coup” against his presidency, though recent polls indicate that Americans may be changing their view to something along this line – it’s time for the impeachment process to go forward.

And, now this – impeachment is not a conviction. It is essentially an indictment, which means that Trump will have to defend himself even as the scope of his misdeeds widen. As that happens, it is likely that it will become more and more difficult even for Republicans to justify the president’s conduct.

If Ukraine wasn’t enough, Trump doubled down by asking China to engage in a Biden investigation – and did so in public, thus appearing to indicate that he is above any rational law.

According to Milbank, “Geopolitical archrival China, fighting us in a trade war, now knows that, to secure good relations with the U.S. administration, it should produce dirt on Trump’s prospective Democratic opponent.

“That’s not in the national interest (it’s flatly against the law). It’s in Trump’s personal interest.”

Milbank makes other contentions about Trump using government powers for his own interests.

• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, at Trump’s behest, revived an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s long ago e-mails.
• Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani spearheaded the effort to solicit political dirt from Ukraine.
• Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin ignored the law in refusing access to Trump’s tax returns, thus blocking Congress from knowing about Trump’s foreign entanglements.
• Trump has encouraged everybody from Vice President Michael Pence on down to patronize his resorts and is now seeking to host the Group of Seven at his Florida golf resort.
• Trump even pressured federal meteorological officials to rescind weather advice that contradicted his — much as he pressured the National Park Service to falsify inauguration attendance.

From Milbank:” “Trump has many undesirable attributes: He lies, he chases conspiracy theories, he’s racist, he abuses power, he’s cruel. The common thread — a unified theory of Trump, if you will — is that the man who promised an ‘America First’ agenda is instead pursuing a ‘Trump First’ agenda.”

Now, I repeat these points from Milbank, not because I agree with all he writes about Trump. I don’t. But, Milbank makes a solid point about what motivates Trump. It’s his own aggrandizement rather than anything good for the country.

A solid piece in USA Today yesterday was written by a Republican and a Democrat who said it is past time for an impeachment process to go forward.

“Trump should be impeached for abuse of his office, obstruction of justice, breaking campaign finance laws and violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clauses. The primary articles will bring into sharp relief that this president endangered the nation for his own self-serving purposes, while the emoluments charges should be a reminder of a sacred principle to which we seem to have somehow become numb: The president can never monetize his or her time in office.”

Put simply, Trump continues to perform as a narcissist.   So much so that we, as a nation, may not survive a second Trump term, So, I say, give us a chance in 2020 to elect someone better.