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.

Even as daily White House briefings on the coronavirus pandemic have had a circus-like atmosphere and President Donald Trump’s claims have been picked apart, he has seen an uptick in his piolitcak approval rating over the past two weeks.

Incredible.

How is that possible?

According to the Gallup polling organization, Trump may be enjoying a small rally in public support just because Americans often rally to their leader in a time of national emergency. Perhaps because that notion makes more sense than the rise being due to Trump’s performance.

Forty-nine percent of U.S. adults, up from 44 per cent earlier this month, approve of the job Trump is doing as president. Trump also had 49 per cent job approval ratings — the best of his presidency — in late January and early February around the time of the Senate impeachment trial that resulted in his acquittal.

Also, Independents’ and Democrats’ approval of Trump’s performance has increased slightly since earlier this month, tying as the best he has registered to date among each group. The president’s approval rating among Republicans was already above 90 per cent, and remains so — but is not currently his highest on record (which was 94 per cent in late January).

The Trump Administration (again, the word “administration” suggests that there is more organization than there is) has received some criticism for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including that the president downplayed the threat, at least up until his nationally televised address on March 11.

On March 16, Trump acknowledged the seriousness of the situation by urging people to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people and to have workers and students stay home if possible. The Administration has had daily press conferences since then to update the nation on what the federal government is doing to address the situation.

In the latest briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a credentialed expert in epidemics, was conspicuously absent, probably because he has spent much of his time having to correct Trump lies, misstatements and exaggerations. And Trump hates being corrected.

I hope Fauci will stay in his current position and that he can be relied upon to speak from credentialed science.

Trump, of course, believes he knows all about science and epidemics because, as he incredibly claimed a few days ago “his uncle knew about medicine, so he did, too.”

For my part, I go back to a piece written a couple days ago by Washington Post media reporter, Margaret Sullivan. Here is what she wrote:

“More and more each day, President Trump is using his daily briefings as a substitute for the campaign rallies that have been forced into extinction by the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“These White House sessions — ostensibly meant to give the public critical and truthful information about this frightening crisis — are in fact working against that end.

“Rather, they have become a daily stage for Trump to play his greatest hits to captive audience members. They come in search of life-or-death information, but here’s what they get from him instead:

“ ● Self-aggrandizement. When asked how he would grade his response to the crisis, the president said, “I’d rate it a 10.” Absurd on its face, of course, but effective enough as blatant propaganda

“● Media-bashing. When NBC News’s Peter Alexander lobbed him a softball question in Friday’s briefing — “What do you say to Americans who are scared?” — Trump went on a bizarre attack. “I say, you’re a terrible reporter,” the president said, launching into one of his trademark “fake news” rants bashing Alexander’s employer. (Meanwhile, he has also found time during these news briefings to lavish praise on sycophantic pro-Trump media like One America News Network, whose staffer — I can’t call her a reporter — invited him to justify his xenophobic talk of a “Chinese virus” by asking rhetorically if he considers the phrase “Chinese food” racist.)

“● Exaggeration and outright lies. Trump has claimed that there are plenty of tests available (there aren’t); that Google is “very quickly” rolling out a nationwide website to help manage coronavirus treatment (the tech giant was blindsided by the premature claim); that the drug chloroquine, approved to treat malaria, is a promising cure for the virus and “we’re going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately.” (It hasn’t been approved for this use, and there is no evidence to demonstrate its effectiveness in fighting the virus.)

So, with Sullivan, I say we need far less of Trump and more of credible figures, like Fauci, who can lead us in dealing with an incredible pandemic. With her, I also advocate that media outlets decline to televise Trump’s supposed press conferences live.

By the time he conveys lies, there is no time to correct the record.