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.

It’s about time that Donald Trump found himself in an unpleasant surrounding.

He deserves to be there.

Where is “there?”

It is in a courtroom today where he will take the stand in a civil fraud trial in New York where he, his family and others have been charged with inflating his net worth to defraud banks.

Consider this difference as pointed out this morning by the New York Times:

“Donald J. Trump took the rally stage on a scorching August day in New Hampshire, a political shark, brazen and sly, as he ridiculed his legal opponents as ‘racist’ and ‘deranged.’

“On Monday, the former president will come face-to-face with one of those opponents, but on a stage where he is far less comfortable.

“New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, will call Trump to the witness stand at his own civil fraud trial in Manhattan, where, under oath and under fire, the former president will try to convince a single skeptical judge — not a jury — that he did not inflate his net worth to defraud banks and insurers.”

Supposedly and privately, the Times says Trump has told advisers he is not concerned about his time on the stand.  He held preparation sessions when he was in New York attending the trial and did so again over the weekend before he makes his appearance after court begins this morning.

More from the Times:

“The former president believes he can fight or talk his way out of most situations.  Frequent visits to the courtroom have also given Trump familiarity with the unwieldy proceeding, where he projects control, often whispering in his lawyers’ ears, prompting their objections to the attorney general’s questions.

“Yet, Trump is deeply, personally enraged by this trial — and by the fact that his children have had to testify, several people who have spoken with him said — and he may not be able to restrain himself on the stand.

“The testimony will push Trump far outside his comfort zone of social media and the rally stage, where he is a master of mockery, a no-holds barred flamethrower who relishes most opportunities to attack foes.  He leveraged that persona during his days as a tabloid businessman and fixture of New York’s tabloids and found that it worked just as well in the 2016 presidential race.

“He has since taken control of the Republican Party, and his style has become a defining influence in contemporary politics.”

The witness stand is a different venue.

It’s a seat that requires care and control, where lying is a crime and emotional outbursts can land you in contempt of court.

As he heads to court this morning, it will be fascinating to see how Trump fares when, to his consternation, he is not in charge of the platform.

I, for one, hope he performs badly, for that he is what his over-the-top conduct requires – a comeuppance that destroys his ego.