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.

It is hard to limit my disdain for Donald Trump to just one point.  But if there was, it would be this:

Trump hates the military he says wants to lead as commander in chief. 

He has made that ultimately clear in recent years, culminating in a current pledge, if he wins the presidency, to turn the military into his own national police force going after persons who have opposed him.

That, coupled with his ridicule for a national military hero, the late Senator John McCain, makes it hard for me to understand how anyone who served in the military could vote for Trump, the charlatan.

U.S. News and World Report carried a story under this headline:  THE LIST OF HIGH-PROFILE MILITARY LEADERS SLAMMING TRUMP

And here is the subhead:  Former Chief of Staff John Kelly is one of several high-profile military leaders to denounce the former president.

The story continued:

“Former high-profile military leaders are sounding the alarm on former President Donald Trump, referencing his rhetoric of admiring dictators and vows to turn the military on domestic opponents.

“Trump’s former Chief of Staff John Kelly, a retired Marine general, told The New York Times that Trump met the definition of a fascist and detailed his admiration for Adolf Hitler and his lack of understanding of history and the rule of law.”

Kelly is just the latest general who served under Trump to re-up his concerns about the former president so close to the election.  In the years since his first term ended, more than a dozen high-ranking military leaders have openly criticized him, including in remarks that surfaced last week from retired Generals Mark Milley and Jim Mattis.

Now, before I relate some of the specifics of what these and other generals said, note this from the Wall Street Journal as it reported on a Trump rally in New York:

“You never know when you may hear him refer to opponents as “vermin,” suggest violence, praise Hannibal Lecter, or marvel at Arnold Palmer’s manhood.  So, rambling have the rallies become that Trump, always one to flip a liability on its head, came up with a phrase for it:  “The weave,” which is “a way” to describe Trump’s incoherence.

Here’s a look at some of Trump’s former generals have said:

• John Kelly:  “Certainly the former president is in the far right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictator, so he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist.”

• Mark Milley:  “Trump is a fascist to the core.”

• Jim Mattis:  “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite American people, does not even pretend to try.  Instead, he tries to divide us.”

• H.R.McMaster:  “In the January 6 siege on the Capitol, Trump abandoned his oath to ‘upport and defend the Constitution, a president’s highest obligation.”

• Mark Esper (not a general, but a Secretary of Defense):  “After stolen documents were found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, stashing them there was an irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, and places our nation’s security at risk.”

So, with all these compelling comments, I also find myself wondering what Senator McCain would say from the grave.

I suspect he would say don’t for the scofflaw, Trump.