Perspective from the 19^th Hole 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.

One characteristic of Donald Trump – his continual belittling of the U.S. military – strikes me as a reality that should prompt some of my friends to divorce themselves from supporting him.

How can persons who value military service – especially those who served themselves – tolerate someone who doesn’t value the military and, of course, managed to avoid serving himself.

For serving is something Trump never does, unless it is to serve himself.

Colbert King, writing in the Washington Post, made the same point in a recent column.

Here is how he started:

“Returning Trump to the White House would be a disservice not only to the armed services, but also to the nation.

“It might be a little late in the day, what with the Republican and Democrat conventions in the dust and the presidential campaigns well under way.  But I can’t get past Donald Trump’s contempt toward the military, even as he runs to become commander in chief once again.”

Here’s why, King writes:

• Maybe it’s because I wore the uniform of a commissioned U.S. Army officer, and proudly served two years on active duty.
• Maybe it’s because some of my Howard University classmates not only served gallantly in the armed forces, but did so in many cases at the cost of their lives.
• Maybe it’s because I think the 2.8 million U.S. military personnel stationed worldwide deserve a president who values their service.  But I believe returning Trump to the White House would be a disservice to the nation.

As a further rationale, King cited this recent incident.

“Yes, I was put off by his shallow and thoughtless remarks about the Medal of Honor and his disrespect of those who received it.  Trump stood before an audience at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey on August 15 and told those gathered that the Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest award you can get as a civilian, it’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but civilian version.

“It’s actually much better, because everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor — that’s soldiers.  They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead.”

If you heard this without attribution, you might bet it was Trump who said it, given his distaste for the military he wants to lead.

King then goes on to cite the one case that strikes me as the best indication of Trump’s hatred of the military.

“You might have been around during the Republican presidential campaign in 2015 when Trump opined on Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), a decorated Vietnam War veteran who paid a heavy, painful and physical price at the hands of North Vietnamese who held him captive for 5½ years.

“Trump declared that McCain was ‘not a war hero” and then clarified, ‘He’s not a war hero because he was captured.  I like people that weren’t captured.’  That from Trump, a loudmouth celebrity who never wore the uniform but avoided military service with draft deferments.”

I wore “the uniform,” too.  But not as well as did many of my friends who deserve the “thank you for your service” motto more than I do.

So, I say to my friends who herald Trump:  Consider his belittling of the military and don’t vote for him.