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.

“Democrats should long ago have disabused themselves of the idea that facts and evidence, no matter how damning, will produce some sort of “aha!” moment for the Republican base.

“It will never acknowledge the corruption — both in the traditional sense of the word and in the damage to democratic processes — that former president Donald Trump and his minions were capable of or the even greater abuses they would feel at liberty to commit should he return to power.”

So writes Karen Tumulty, deputy editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal.

Her main point – “no facts and evidence, no matter how damning, will produce some sort of ‘aha’ moment for the Republican base” – got me to thinking about how bad things are in this country, when:

• …any new fact or evidence emerges, it only inflames the opposition to rational political dealings in this country.

• …Trump’s instinctive style – mimicked by his acolytes – is to go off on any new fact or evidence, calling them by his trademark “fake news” tag if he disagrees with them – and he does routinely when they call his conduct into question.  Which means that any new revelation serves only as a foundation for him to inflame further.
  
  
• …facts and evidence that would make most rational persons blush with embarrassment only inflame Trump and his acolytes.  He can grab women wherever and whenever he wants with no penalty – and his minions cheer.  He can take action to overthrow an election and his base doesn’t care; in fact, it aids in the insurrection.  He can advocate breaking various laws and his base will only accept it as a new foundation for more.

• …Trump goes off on a rage, he brings many others – Mark Meadows, Steve Bannon, etc. – with him.  They bow at the altar of Trump at all costs, no matter the consequences.

In the Washington Post, Michael Gerson wrote about this in a piece appeared under this headline:

What if the eventual January 6 report is rigorous, compelling — and doesn’t really matter?

Gerson’s point:

“The boldness and persistence of the House January 6 committee are a welcome and necessary development.  It seems intent on exploring and exposing all the elements of former president Donald Trump’s plot against America:  The spurious and dangerous legal theories that fed and informed his plan to overturn the 2020 election, Trump’s direct incitement of violent and criminal behavior on the part of his supporters, and the subsequent attempts by Republicans to soft-pedal subversion.

“But I am haunted nonetheless by a recent, decisive moment in American democracy. In early February, Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin made an appeal to the Senate as it was voting on whether to pursue a second impeachment trial against Trump.

“As both prosecutor and witness, Raskin described what a disruption in the peaceful transfer of power actually looks like:  His visiting daughter, hiding in fear of her life; the door-to-door hunt by fanatics seeking public officials to attack; and the desecration of sacred national symbols. ‘This cannot be the future of America,’ he said.”

Raskin’s appeal came to nothing.

While the case against Trump is utterly compelling, it could eventually be useless.

That, Gerson continues, poses a key question:  What if the eventual January 6 report is a detailed, powerful, comprehensive and legally compelling indictment of Trump and it doesn’t really matter?  Or at least doesn’t matter to the voters it needs to?”

And, the GOP is adrift.   According to the Pew Research Center, roughly two-thirds of Republicans say that Trump “definitely” or “probably”won the 2020 election.  And the share of Republicans who believe it is “somewhat” or “very” important to prosecute the January 6 rioters has fallen by more than 20 percentage points this year.

During my professional career, when I worked as a public relations manager in state government or when I functioned as a public relations consultant to firms in the private sector, one major goal was to avoid making a challenge worse by overreacting to it.

Back in the day of major newspapers, I often advised clients that “it didn’t make any sense to argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel.”

Today, Trump would not recognize the risks of overreacting.  As the epitome of a narcissist, overreacting is what he does instinctively.

I only hope he eventually pays a price for his criminal conduct.