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 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.

Every once in awhile, I toy with never mentioning Donald Trump’s name again in the blogs I write.

Toy with.  Not follow through.

Because I cannot.

At least, we are past the day of Thanksgiving because there is no way I ever could be thankful for Trump, especially if he illustrates what should never happen again in this country, which is to be president.

Trump did so much damage to the country we love, the United States, that he deserves to be criticized at every turn. 

None of us should ever forget the stain of Trump’s actions and words.

Jesse Wegman, a member of New York Times Editorial Board, agrees with me – or at least I agree with him.  He wrote this a couple days ago:

“The facts are well known but necessary to repeat, if only because we must never become inured to them:  Abetted by a posse of low-rent lawyers, craven lawmakers and associated crackpots, Trump schemed to overturn the 2020 election by illegal and unconstitutional means.

“When those efforts failed, he incited a violent insurrection at the United States Capitol, causing widespread destruction, leading to multiple deaths and — for the first time in American history — interfering with the peaceful transfer of power.

“Almost two years later, he continues to claim, without any evidence, that he was cheated out of victory, and millions of Americans continue to believe him.”

So, I say to Trump and his minions.  Go away and stay away.