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.

When you have a lot of time on your hands, as I do here in La Quinta, California, questions like the one in the headline cross your mind.

Does Donald Trump, the once and I-want-to-be-again president, ever express regret for any of his actions?

Put differently, goes he ever apologize?

I believe the answer is “no.” 

And, every day he proves I am right.

As a person who has been involved in politics for many years, I always have thought a major credential for those involved is this:  When you make a mistake, admit it, take responsibility, and move on.

One of the best examples of this was George Bush, the younger, who served as president from 2001-09.

Here is the way the Today Show on NBC reported his apology under this headline:  The Iraq war my biggest regret, Bush admits.

“George Bush, in a moment of reflection ahead of his departure from the White House, admitted that the decision to go to war against Saddam Hussein on the basis of flawed intelligence was the biggest regret of his presidency.

“The acknowledgment marks the first time that Bush has publicly expressed doubts about his rationale for going to war on Iraq.

“In the run-up to the war, the White House adopted a position of absolute certainty that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, basing its arguments on intelligence that was later exposed as flimsy and wrong.

“The biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq.  I wish the intelligence had been different.”

In his post-presidency book, Decision Points, Bush makes the same apology.

Good for him, I always have thought.

But, I also have thought that any president bases his or her action on the information each has at the moment.  If that information proves later to have been wrong, well, that is the benefit of hindsight.

Given the information he had AT THE TIME, it is not hard for me to understand why Bush and all his military advisors decided to go to war.  They were out to protect America from what they thought were “weapons of mass destruction.

So, back to one Donald Trump.

Why doesn’t he feel the need to apologize for his missteps, since there have been so many?

• His sexual assault against Jean Carroll.
• His criticism against John McCain for being captured as McCain fought for America in Vietnam War when Trump never served a minute in the military.
• His actions to overvalue his assets for PR purposes, then undervalue the same assets for tax purposes.
• His advocacy for sedition as Americans he valued – not to mention came close to order — invaded the U.S. Capitol after his election loss to Joseph Biden.  The goal, orchestrated by Trump, was to try to overturn the result.
• Others, too numerous to list here.

The answer on why Trump never apologizes:  He is the epitome of the narcissist who believes he always is right, no matter the reality.

And, for me, that is not a trait Americans need in a president.