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.

THIS IS THE FIRST OF TWO-PART SERIES OF BLOGS FOCUSING ON DONALD TRUMP’S VULGARITY

It’s almost too much to grasp.

What?

Two things:

• First, Donald Trump is so insecure that he lacks any basic human instincts of kindness and discretion.  So, he yells and screams based on his narcissism.
• Second, his MAGA followers like his style and go so far as to mimic his over-the-top conduct.  So, they are narcissists, too.

This was made clear in a Washington Post story the other day that caught my attention, not because it was fun to read, but because it told a tale about politics in this country – a tale that needs to be told as we head toward another presidential election.

The article by Hannah Knowles appeared under a headline I borrowed for this blog.  This was the subhead:

“Many GOP voters are not just tolerating, but relishing and emulating Trump’s often crass and cruel approach to politics.”

Yes, followers emulate Trump.

They don’t just support his policies, whatever those policies are – and they might be able to describe those policies.  They adopt Trump style as their own.

Here is how Knowles started her story:

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“DES MOINES — Donald Trump was conspicuously absent at a conservative Christian forum here, where his long-shot rivals for the Republican presidential nomination were asked how they could be role models from the White House. The host brought up Trump’s insulting nicknames:  ‘How do we raise the bar?’ he asked.

“The next day, Trump swooped into Iowa for his own event — where he lobbed insults, made crude references, and casually tossed out baseless and false claims designed to belittle his opponents and critics in vicious terms.

“Children wandered around in shirts and hats with the letters ‘FJB,’ an abbreviation for an obscene jab at President Biden that other merchandise spelled out:  ‘F— Biden.’

“During his speech inside a high school gym in Fort Dodge, former president Trump called one GOP rival a ‘son of a b—-,’ referred to another as ‘birdbrain’ and had the crowd shrieking with laughter at his comments on Representative Adam B. Schiff (D-California), who he called ‘pencil neck’ before asking, ‘How does he hold up that fat, ugly face?’  He brought the house down while mocking Biden, at one point baselessly suggesting Biden is using drugs and can’t get offstage ‘by the time whatever it is he’s taken wears off.’”

Trump’s coarseness and cruelty, Knowles writes, have come to define the Republican Party since his rise to the presidency — and many GOP voters relish and emulate the approach.

For me, one of the most egregious examples of Trump’s insane conduct over the years occurred when he said he was no fan of the late military hero John McCain because “McCain got captured.”

How would Trump even know what it meant to be captured during a war?  He never served.

As they have been offered the chance to support other presidential hopefuls who champion a similar agenda to Trump in a less abrasive package, many Republicans appear to be sticking with the former president — underscoring how his personality and shattering of behavioral norms have long been a major part of his appeal.

More from Knowles:

“Conservative evangelicals influential in Iowa — the first state in the GOP nominating calendar — have previously set aside some distaste for Trump’s personal behavior as he took up their causes, including appointing anti-abortion judges to the Supreme Court.

“An event in Fort Dodge served as a stark illustration of the crudeness, meanness, and unfounded accusations that he has helped normalize in politics.

“T-shirts on sale at the event neatly summed up that appeal with images of Trump giving a middle finger.  ‘Even my dog hates Biden!’ one of the merchants yelled each time someone walked up to look.

“Anticipating another general election matchup with Biden, Trump is criticizing Biden’s policies but also attacking him in highly personal terms as weak or ‘stupid.’  On Saturday he suggested Biden is unimposing to the dictators Trump often compliments, saying Chinese President Xi Jinping, who recently met with Biden, is ‘strong like granite’ and musing that Taliban leaders might not call Biden ‘your excellency, as Trump says they once addressed him.”

Trump’s language has rubbed off on many of his supporters.

And, so has Trump’s overall conduct and disrespect for any political norms.  It bodes ill for this country.