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.

On occasion, I have said that I would not write more blogs about Donald Trump, the worst president in U.S. history.

Today, I again go back on that promise.

I cannot help it because Trump has come in for a heap of trouble recently and, I say, it’s about time.

If you are a fan of this scurrilous figure, you may be concerned about two new developments.

• First, Trump and his children have been ordered by a judge in New York to testify within 21 days at civil depositions in the New York Attorney General’s investigation of potential fraud at the Trump Organization. 

According to a column in the Washington Post, the judge’s opinion brutally rejected Trump’s arguments for blocking the depositions:  It would have been “blatant dereliction of duty” for the attorney general not to take the testimony, the judge explained, because prosecutors have unearthed “copious evidence of possible financial fraud” in Trump’s business.

• Second, the Trump organization has been told that its accounting firm, Mazars, is terminating its relationship and has said that “10 years of Trump’s financial statements, from 2011 to 2020, should no longer be relied upon.” 

In its official “we quit” letter, Mazars wrote:  “Under the totality of the circumstances, we have also reached the point such that there is a non-waivable conflict of interest with the Trump Organization.  As a result, we are not able to provide any new work product to the Trump Organization.”

According to the Washington Post:

“Translated from legal-accountingese, the letter was a disaster for Trump, far beyond his possibly having to file late returns.  

By pronouncing a non-waivable conflict of interest, Mazars was all but saying, ‘We’re on team A.G. — or we might have to join someday soon.’ And by saying there would be no new work product and quitting, the firm essentially declared, ‘We don’t trust you — and we’re certainly not going to jail for you.’”

Washington Post columnist George Conway added this:  “It has often been tempting, but never a safe wager, to predict the demise of Donald Trump.  He lost the presidency and both houses of Congress, and was impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors twice.  He’s being investigated in New York for business fraud, and in Georgia for election fraud.  He’s being probed by the House’s January 6 select committee — and, one would hope, ultimately by the Justice Department — for whipping up a riot and attempting a self-coup.

“Yet, somehow, he has managed to survive, legally, financially and politically.  Indeed, astonishingly, he remains far and away the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.  But maybe, just maybe, this time will be different.”

Conway should know.

His wife, Kellyanne Conway, worked for Trump and remains a solid supporter, which, given George Conway’s anti-Trump views, makes you wonder how they can get along together in married life.

Speaking of the Washington Post, another columnist, Dana Milbank, had a great suggestion when his proposal appeared under this headline:

We need a ‘Mazars warning’ on everything Trump says

In the same way that warning signs are posted on such products as cigarettes, Milbank says “’Mazars Warnings’ should be posted on everything Trump says.”

To illustrate that “Trump’s probity always has been suspect,” Milbank cites:  “His insurrection-fomenting lie about a stolen election, his personal fixer’s conviction over hush money Trump paid to a porn actress, an endless parade of scandal at Trump entities, or the 30,573 documented falsehoods he spoke as president.”

Will all this – orders to submit to depositions and Mazars warnings — be enough to bring Trump down?

Who knows?

But, as the depth of Trump’s troubles grow, it could mean that, this time, he is out of his depth. 

One hopes that is true.