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 link another 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.

After watching Donald Trump do dumb stuff for more than three years now, as well as his harmful actions with the virus over the last few days, I often find myself wondering why he behaves with so much disdain for reputable norms.

One reason is that Trump is the very definition of a narcissist, one who sees everything through the lens of how it affects him and only him.

But Washington Post writer Charles Lane posited another reason in a column this week – the one depicted in the headline in this blog.

There is unifying theme to all actions by and involving Trump, Lane writes:  His belief that rules, both written and unwritten, do not apply to him.

Recent examples of Trump defying rules:

• Contrary to what presidents have done for roughly 40 years, Trump has declined to release his tax returns, thus defying an unwritten, but closely followed, rule.
• In the first debate between Trump and his Democrat challenger, Joe Biden, Trump refused to wear face coverings, a rule that had been set by debate co-sponsor and health overseer, the Cleveland Clinic. 
• During the debate, Trump repeatedly and aggressively interrupted Biden, violating rules for the debate that he and his campaign had accepted in advance.
• Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, as did several of his aides and Republican senators, possibly due to exposure during the White House gathering to announce Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court.  The gathering was held despite rules against such events promulgated by the Centers for Disease Control.

Meanwhile, while Trump was convalescing – if that is what he was really doing —  Biden suspended negative advertising and publicly wished the president well, in conformity with this basic rule of etiquette:  Always express concern for the sick, even when it’s someone you oppose or, indeed, despise.

Columnist Lane continues:   “The contrast is clear, and it underscores Biden’s strongest selling point as a candidate; that, whatever else you can say about him, he is at least a normal, decent human being who would restore a sense of basic propriety to the highest office in the land.

“Never underestimate, though, the degree to which Trump’s supporters like him because of his rule-breaking — not despite it. That, in turn, reflects widespread sentiment that the U.S. political and economic systems are ‘rigged’ against people like them, and in favor of urban elites.  Through Trump, they fight back.”

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And this footnote, though it is\ not related to the rule-breaking issue. 

In a previous blog, I speculated that some folks who continue to support Trump despite his rule-breaking, do so because they may feel their 401K and other retirement funds will fare better under Republicans than Democrats.

Well, this letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal caught my attention.  It was from a retiree in Florida.

“While Grover Norquist is right to point out that perhaps half of Americans have money in the stock market, his selective use of statistics neglects to mention that for most people, that “stock ownership” is a very small sum, indeed.

“Bankrate.com calculates that the median stock ownership for workers 50-59 years old was just $65,000, not nothing, certainly, but not nearly the amount needed to cover expenses for retirement, including the exorbitant costs for health care and medicine, coming in just a few short years for this age group.

“And let’s not forget that over the past 50 years in America, a time during which Republicans and Democrats have held the White House for roughly the same number of years, both stock markets and wages have increased faster during Democrat administrations. I think my 401(k) would do better under a Democrat administration.”