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.

Donald Trump deserves all the legal jeopardy he faces.

He did so much damage to the country – our country – and is still brandishing many weapons as he tries to become U.S. president again.

Three views from the Post this morning verify the jeopardy – and I post these intentionally because I share the views:

FROM COLUMNIST JENNIFER RUBIN: 

“Donald Trump cannot pass off the House January 6 Select Committee’s final report as mere partisan opinion.  His criminal liability is based on a mound of evidence, as the committee meticulously detailed.

Error! Filename not specified.Donald Trump cannot pass off the House Jan. 6 select committee’s final report as mere partisan opinion. His criminal liability is based on a mound of evidence, as the committee meticulously detailed.””Moreover, the committee’s “roadmap to justice” is not just a restatement of facts already made public by the committee. It is the foundation that the Justice Department could use to prosecute the former president and his underlings to the fullest extent of the law.

“The report’s executive summary, which the committee released on Monday, includes four criminal referrals for Trump:  Insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and conspiracy to make a false statement.

“At its core, the report lays out the evidence for critical facts:

• Trump attempted to stay in power despite the vote of the American people.
• He tried to concoct phony slates of electors to change the electoral vote.
• He tried to pressure former vice president Mike Pence to disregard the electoral count.
• When that did not work, he summoned the mob to the capital on January 6, 2021, urged rally attendees (some of whom were armed) to march to the Capitol and did nothing for 187 minutes to stop the violence that ensued.  In fact, while the insurrection was underway, he sent out a tweet putting a target on Pence’s back.”

COMMENT:  Enough said.

FROM COLUMNIST GREG SARGENT: 

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“It was the biggest surprise of the mid-terms:  Bucking widespread skepticism, the House committee examining President Donald Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection made the cause of democracy matter to voters.  Its revelations surely encouraged the defeat of numerous MAGA election-deniers, helping protect our political system against future subversion.

“Now, with the panel holding its last meeting Monday in advance of the release of its final report, it appears prepared to attempt another, similar feat:  Making a public case that Trump committed crimes.

“Will this influence the Justice Department’s ultimate decision on whether to charge Trump?  Probably not.  And many will argue that this renders the move unnecessary or purely theatrical.

“But that’s the wrong way to look at the committee’s work.

“This move communicates to the public that the committee — which has examined the insurrection more deeply than anyone — believes the Justice Department should investigate whether Trump committed specific crimes. When people deride hearings as ‘political theater,’ that’s automatically understood as a ‘showboating waste of time.’  But successful hearings, even theatrical ones, are also acts of communication with the people. And in this case, that’s especially important.”

COMMENT:  Enough said.

FROM THE POST EDITORIAL BOARD

“The House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack approached the end of its work Monday with a dramatic recommendation that the Justice Department charge former president Donald Trump with four crimes, including inciting or assisting an insurrection.  This criminal referral is symbolic; the Justice Department is responsible for making a tough call on whether such charges would stick — and whether it would be prudent to indict a former president and current presidential candidate.

“The committee has secured its legacy in different ways, providing a searing picture of what occurred on January 6, 2021, and exhibiting the cowardice of those who, out of fear of Trump, refused to help it reckon with that dark day.

“The public now knows much more about Trump’s culpability.  New details, including videotaped testimony from former Trump aides, showed Trump had been told he’d lost the election, but nevertheless leaned on state officials, the Justice Department, his vice president, and others to keep him in power — a campaign that resulted in the January 6, 2021, riot.”

COMMENT:  Enough said.