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.

On this, the day after Thanksgiving, two things:

1. Continue to be thankful, a commitment which should exist on more than one day a year.

• I return to commenting on Donald Trump because his approach creates huge risks for our country, even as I continue to be thankful to live here.

There should be no surprise about what we are seeing these days from Trump.

He is doing what he said he would do as he ran for president and, against my fond homes, won the office.

For one thing, Trump has announced that, on the first day of his presidency, now about two months away, he will impose new tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China through an executive order.

No one knows how those countries will respond to Trump’s order, but one thing seems clear:  Various prices will go up for Americans, including those who voted for Trump knowing about his fealty for tariffs, which he made abundantly clear.

More than $1.3 trillion worth of goods came from the three countries in 2023, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, including gas, cars and smartphones.

Here from the Washington Post is a breakdown of goods from the three countries, which means higher prices across-the-board:

Mexico/  “The United States conducts more trade with Mexico than any other country.  It imported $475 billion in goods from Mexico last year and exported almost $323 billion.

“The United States imported more than $400 billion worth of manufactured goods, compared with about $20 billion of products from the Mexican agriculture, forestry and livestock sectors; and about the same from the oil, gas and mining sectors, according to the bank. Goods included cars and car parts, computers and other electrical equipment, beverages, medical instruments and household appliances.”

Canada/  “Canada is the United States’ second-ranked trading partner:  The United States imported more than $418 billion in goods from Canada in 2023, and exported $354 billion.

“The top goods from Canada are crude oil and related products such as petroleum gas; vehicles such as cars and car parts; and machinery such as turbines, engines and construction equipment parts, according to global research firm Trading Economics.

“The U.S. also imports billions in plastics, pharmaceuticals, metals such as aluminum, iron and gold, wood and paper, and agricultural products from Canada.”

China/  “China is the United States’ third-largest trading partner. The U.S. imported almost $427 billion in goods last year and exported almost $148 billion.

“The top imports were electronics, including phones; machinery such as computers; toys, games, and sporting equipment; furniture; and plastics, medical equipment, clothes and shoes, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.”

Apart from tariffs, Trump gained the most publicity in the last few weeks for his executive appointments.

It is easy for many of us who favor good government to ridicule many of those appointees because they have almost no experience managing anything as large or diverse as a federal agency.  What they do appear to have is loyalty to Trump and, on one hand, that’s not bad for any president-elect.  It’s just bad when loyalty is combined with no other credentials.

In many cases, Trump simply turned to hosts of reality TV shows, especially on FOX News, in the apparent belief that looking good – at least to Trump – on camera was good enough.

Tom Nichols, writing in The Atlantic Magazine, put it this way as he tried to analyze what is motivating Trump:

“By overwhelming people with the sheer volume and vulgarity of his antics, Trump and his team are trying to burn out the part of our brains that can discern truth from fiction, right from wrong, good from evil.

“Trump isn’t worried that all of this will cause voters to have a kind of mental meltdown:  He’s counting on it.  He needs ordinary citizens to become so mired in moral chaos and so cognitively paralyzed that they are unable to comprehend the disasters that would ensue if he returns to the White House.”

I put the word “if” in bold face because Nichols should have said “when” he returns to the White House, since Trump, unfortunately, is going there.

More from Nichols:

“Trump will now dominate the news cycle almost every day with some new smoke bomb that is meant to distract from his attempts to stock the government with a strange conglomeration of nihilistic opportunists and self-styled revolutionaries.  He will propose plans that he has no real hope of accomplishing quickly, while trying to build an aura of inevitability and omnipotence around himself.

“His vow to begin mass deportations on his first day, for example, is a logistical impossibility, unless by mass he means slightly more than usual.  He may be able to set in motion some sort of planning on day one, but he has no way to execute a large-scale operation yet, and it will be some time before he has anywhere to put so many people marked for deportation.”

The other reality, Nichols adds, is that Trump has already accomplished the one thing he really cared about:  Staying out of jail. That’s because Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has announced his intention to leave government before Trump can fire him, has moved to dismiss the January 6 case against Trump.

Nichols adds, and I agree:  “So be it; if enough voters have decided they can live with a convicted felon in the White House, there’s nothing the rest of us can do about it.”

Finally, Nichols adds a piece of advice that is good for me and all Americans – or at least those who are worried about Trump.

“None of the things Trump is trying to do will happen all at once.  So, give yourself a break.

“Remember the great privilege and blessing it is to be an American and have faith in the American Constitution and the freedoms safeguarded within it.

“If your Uncle Ned shows up and still wants to argue about how the election was stolen from Trump four years ago, my advice is the same as it’s been for every holiday:  Tell him he’s wrong, that you love him anyway, that you’re not having this conversation today, and to pass the potatoes.”