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.

Most days, as I look back on 40 years in and around politics, I am just happy to be retired.

The art of politics is no longer an art.

Rather, it is a game played substantially by people who want to win at all costs, no matter the damage they inflict on other human beings along the way.

Honesty and an appeal for the middle ground be damned. 

So, we have Donald Trump, who, at best, is a performance artist uninterested in what is good for the country, but only committed to what is good for him.  He is the epitome of the narcissist.

All of this came back to as I read a column by Philip Bump from the Washington Post who wrote under this headline:  “Trump’s legal issues are bound with a thread of willful dishonesty.”

For me, Trump gets the debit for turning politics in this country on its head and he has done that with malice aforethought all because he thinks he is better than anyone else.

The further unconscionable reality is that his acolytes go along with him, no matter what he has done or the scope of his dishonesty, which would make most sensible human beings blush, if not prepare to be locked up.

It appears to me that many Trump followers have lost their soul to Trump because of what they thought he could do for them, which mainly was to oppose abortion, though he did not do much on that front.

If you want to be worried about the future of politics, join me in considering what Trump will do if he wins the presidency. 

This, according to Tom Nichols in Atlantic Magazine:

“Donald Trump has been promising for two years to return to office and seize the machinery of government in order to exact revenge on his enemies.  He’s not kidding:  The Washington Post reports that Trump’s allies are planning to execute multiple assaults on democracy from the moment he takes office, including the possibility of deploying the United States armed forces on Inauguration Day to put down any demonstrations against Trump’s return to the White House.”

Plus, just ponder for a moment how Trump would pardon all those who have committed crimes against the country and are now in jail.  Under Trump, they wouldn’t be there long.

Just today, Trump is quoted as saying “he will weaponize the Departments of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation” to go after anyone who opposes him.

Back to Bump’s commentary.  Here is how he started his analysis:

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“You can know nearly everything you need to know about Donald Trump by recognizing two aspects of his life before seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

“The first is that he was the all-powerful head of a private company, granting him sweeping powers that in a political context would be deemed autocratic.  The second is that he applied those powers to the world of New York City real estate, an industry riddled with dishonest actors and larded-on costs.

“Combine those two things and, of course, the result is a president with no apparent regard for the federal separation of powers who will say anything that comes to mind in an effort to close the deal.

“The sense in which Trump is the consummate salesman that he presents himself to be is one in which he consistently overinflates what he has to offer.  His customers are then left in the unenviable position of admitting they got hustled or nodding along with their peers at the emperor’s luxurious new clothes — on those rare occasions, that is, when the dishonesties are even admitted.”

Writing at Substack, Chris Cillizza points out how Trump’s shrugging about this dishonesty should inform our understanding of his approach to politics:  He’s willing to say untrue, baseless things, offshoring the ramifications of acting on those false claims to others.”

So, no surprise that Trump, over his entire life, has practiced dishonesty.  As president, he did the same thing.

And, now, despite his failures, which are being outed in court, he wants to be president again.

Perish the thought.

Politics in this country – not to mention government – is far worse off because of Trump’s intentional failings.

To, to repeat, I am glad I am no longer involved directly.