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 (Les AuCoin), 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 linother favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

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NOTE:  I first posted this blog a couple days ago, but, upon reflection, I may have left an impression that I agree with the points made in excerpts of a political column by Kimberley Strassel which are referenced in the original blog.

I don’t.

But I do think Strassel did a decent job of summarizing reasons why some people could still support Trump despite all of his missteps as president, most of the them intentional as he functions like what he once was — a reality TV host.

Her contention is that the administration of President Barack Obama, along with Congress, resorted too quickly to government action in response to nearly every problem.  That meant devaluing the role of the private sector, one of the best examples of which was establishment of ObamaCare,  which passed without one Republican vote in Congress.

Now, however, beyond the “too much government notion,” Trumpians may want to avoid the result of a return of the “Democrat elite” who they fear will tell them what to do all the time.

Perhaps, but I also think some Trump supporters remain in that camp out of selfishness – they want what they want when they want and believe Trump will give it to them.,  Part of this angst may apply to the status of their 401K and other retirement funds, but, during the Obama Administration, those funds performed well, so it would not be right to blame Obama and trust Trump on this issue.

So, if you read this again, know that I still wonder how it is possible for Trump supporters to continue to be Trump supporters, a proposition that takes on even more significance in the face of Trump continuing to flout virus protocols even as he contracted the disease and, without any apparent concern, exposed others to it.

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The question implied by this blog headline has stumped me for months, even years.

I have seen President Donald Trump do so much dumb stuff, amidst hundreds of lies, that I wonder why some of my friends can still support him.  How can that be?

So it was that a column by Wall Street Journal writer Kimberley Strassel caught my attention this weekend.  I found time to read it even as I and many other Americans worried about Trump’s health as he and others in his family and associates contended with positive results on the Covid-19 virus.

While I do not support Trump, I do wish him well in his recovery – a phrase I write with absolute honesty.

But back to Strassel’s commentary.  Here are excerpts from what she wrote under this headline:

The James Comey Election/His testimony this week was a reminder of everything that enrages Trump voters.

“The political elite remain puzzled—and in agony—over how Donald Trump could still be in the race.  A bullying debater!  A purveyor of mistruths!  A would-be autocrat!  How has our country come to this?

“The answer sat staring at them on a videolink this Wednesday, in the smug countenance of James Comey.

“This obvious truth will be missed by the left and the media, which continue to comfort themselves with the fiction that Trump won in 2016 by preying on the weak and ill-informed.  The opposite is true.  The businessman was propelled to office on the fury of those who had seen too much.

“They’d watched for decades as an insulated elected class—Democrat and Republican alike—broke promises, failed to solve problems, and blamed it on the system.

“These voters had watched the swamp take over—IRS targeters, self-righteous prosecutors, zealous regulators—armed with stunning powers and a mentality that they were entitled to make the rules, to tell the little people what was best for them.  Voters fumed over the double standard. Hillary Clinton deleted government emails with abandon, while a 77-year-old Navy veteran went to prison for building a pond in contravention of “navigable water” rules.

“… November’s vote for many Americans will be a choice between an administration that believes we the people should run Washington, and those who believe the swamp should rule the masses.”

Believe her or not, I think Strassel captures the fear of a return to Democrat control in Washington, D.C. – fears felt, but not always expressed, by my friends.  So, they hated the “government knows best” policies of the administration of President Barack Obama and fear his vice president, Joe Biden, now possibly the next president, will only cater to the “we know best” left.

“Those eight years,” Strassel writes, “featured plenty of swamp monsters — and don’t underestimate the number of Americans who fear a return to that world.  Lois Lerner harassing conservative non-profits.  Supervisors at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives loosing guns in Fast and Furious.  The Environmental Protection Agency minions who burned companies with ever-changing rules.  The Bureau of Land Management harassment of ranchers and farmers.  Energy Department officials steering stimulus payouts to Solyndra and other projects of Obama donors.”

Finally, this point.  Some of my friends rate a presidential administration on how their 401-K funds or other retirement funds fare. 

On that basis, the fact is the Obama years weren’t bad ones.  But, the fear of the Democrat elite persists, which means that Trump will get some votes from some of the fearful.