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.

As you might be able to discern from this blog headline, it took me a long time to think in a nimble enough way to be able to write this.

After all, what’s a “dichotomy?”

Here’s what the dictionary says:  “A division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.”

I came up with this summary after reading a New York Times article that analyzed whether President Joe Biden, soon after pardoning his son Hunter, should issue blanket pardons for persons who are on President-Elect Donald Trump’s “enemies list.”

You could make two arguments here:

• The future:  Biden should not take this action because it would violate the spirit of what any president should do, which is to issue pardons only for those who genuinely deserve them, such as persons who may have been put in prison for certain drug offenses that did not result in injuries to others.  Plus, it would tarnish Biden’s legacy (as if he cares about that because, pardon the bluntness, he’ll be dead when folks get around to characterizing a legacy).

[On this general subject, by the way, I already have indicated that I had no trouble with Biden pardoning his son because it is what fathers do – take care of their sons and daughters, especially in Biden’s case as tragedy has roiled his family over the years.  And he wanted to avoid another tragic chapter.]

• The real now:  The fact is that Trump and his minions – especially Pam Bondi, the nominated Attorney General, and Kash Patel, the nominated director of the FBI – have enemies lists and are prepared to go after persons on those lists.  So, blanket pardons could defeat Trump’s retribution agenda – and, if I was in Biden’s shoes, I would move to protect those on Trump’s agenda.

Trump has promised actions for his perception of wrongs against him, no matter the fiction of those perceptions.  Plus, he has said he intends to pardon those who have been put in prison for their criminal actions in the January 6 insurrection that he, Trump, ordered.

Here’s more from the New York Times in the article that appeared under this headline:  “Biden Team Considers Blanket Pardons Before Trump’s Promised ‘Retribution.’”  [The story was co-written by one of the best political writers doing these days, Peter Baker.]

“White House officials believe President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s selection of partisan warriors for top law enforcement jobs indicates that he will pursue revenge against his perceived enemies.

“President Biden’s staff is debating whether he should issue blanket pardons for a swath of Trump’s perceived enemies to protect them from the “retribution” he has threatened after he takes office.

“The idea would be to pre-emptively extend executive clemency to a list of current and former government officials for any possible crimes over a period of years, effectively short-circuiting the next president’s promised campaign of reprisals.”

It is important to add that White House officials involved in these blanket pardon discussions do not believe the potential recipients have actually committed crimes.  These officials say that, even a Trump-inspired investigation that results in no charges could drag on for months or years, costing those people hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and crippling their career prospects.

The Times reports that the choices of Bondi, the former Florida attorney general and Trump surrogate, to run the Justice Department, and Patel, the  former Trump aide and far-right provocateur, to be director of the F.B.I., have put the issue front and center. 

Patel, for one thing, has vowed to “come after” Trump’s critics and even published a list of about 60 people he considered “members of the executive branch deep state” as an appendix to a 2023 book he wrote.

In the Washington Post, here’s what Jennifer Rubin wrote – and I agree with her:

“In fact, the better justification for the blanket pardon applies, not only to Hunter Biden, but to scores of Americans:  Reasonable fear that a weaponized FBI directed by a vengeful president will carry out threats to pursue his enemies.”

Among those who could be attacked by Trump:

• Former Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, who was vice chair of the bi-partisan committee that investigated Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol

• Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the former top infectious disease expert for the government whose advice on Covid-19 made him a target of far-right attacks

• Jack Smith, the outgoing special counsel who prosecuted Trump

• Senator-elect Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, who was a lead House prosecutor at Trump’s first impeachment trial

• Olivia Troye, a former adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, who has been a leading critic of the president-elect

• General Mark A. Milley, the retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who Trump said deserved to be executed 

• Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, who won a verdict against Trump for business fraud

• Justice Arthur F. Engoron, who presided over the business fraud trial

• And many others too long to list here.

Now, back to the headline on this blog.

It is one thing to argue that blanket pardons violate the spirit of the presidency.  The fact is that it may be true.

But, today with a felon set to enter the White House in a about six weeks, the spirit of the presidency is not alive and well.  It will be in shambles as soon as Trump arrives in the Oval Office, if not already in his various over-the-top pronouncements.

So, in the real world in which Biden operates now in the face of Trump’s pledges for retribution, I think submarining Trump makes good sense — and putting him under water should involve a blanket pardon. In ot