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.

This blog headline proffers a good question.

There are many answers, such as these three:

• They just want to be in charge, because as narcissists, they believe they know more than anyone else.
• They want government to cast itself in the image they discern it should have, no matter what others think – including Members of Congress.
• They want smaller government and they’ll get it by cutting stuff that Congress has approved, thereby raising division-of-powers and Constitutional issues.

The Washington Post opined on this the other day under this headline:  “In chaotic Washington blitz, Elon Musk’s ultimate goal becomes clear.”

And, unfortunately, as Musk goes, so goes Trump, though Musk never was elected to anything.

From the Post:

“Shrink government, control data and — according to one official closely watching the billionaire’s DOGE — replace ‘the human workforce with machines.’

“Billionaire Musk’s blitzkrieg on Washington has brought into focus his vision for a dramatically smaller and weaker government, as he and a coterie of aides move to control, automate — and substantially diminish — hundreds if not thousands of public functions.

“In less than three weeks, Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service has followed the same playbook at one federal agency after another:  Install loyalists in leadership.  Hoover up internal data, including the sensitive and the classified.  Gain control of the flow of funds.  And push hard — by means legal or otherwise — to eliminate jobs and programs not ideologically aligned with Trump administration goals.”

So, there you have it.

Trump and Musk – or is it Musk and Trump? – want to control everything.  If it inflicts damage on unsuspecting members of the public, so be it.  For example, if medicines needed by poor Americans dry up, so be it. 

More from the Post:

“The DOGE campaign has generated chaos on a near-hourly basis across the nation’s capital.  But it appears carefully choreographed in service of a broader agenda to gut the civilian workforce, assert power over the vast federal bureaucracy, and shrink it to levels unseen in at least 20 years.

“The aim is a diminished government that exerts less oversight over private business, delivers fewer services and comprises a smaller share of the U.S. economy — but is far more responsive to the directives of the president.

“Though led by Musk’s team, this campaign is broadly supported by President Donald Trump and his senior leadership, who will be crucial to implementing its next stages.  And while resistance to Musk has emerged in the federal courts, among federal employee unions and in pockets of Congress, allies say the billionaire’s talent for ripping apart and transforming institutions has been underestimated — as has been proved in the scant time since Trump’s January 20 inauguration.”

Plus, if the check on Trump-Musk power is the court, then that is a problem, too, on either of two counts:  Either Trump-Musk ignore the court or it take too long – months – for redress to occur.

Then, this from one of the best political writers doing, Dan Balz, whose work appears in the Washington Post:

“Rare is the president who doesn’t overinterpret his mandate.  Trump is no exception.  His first weeks in office are a textbook case of a chief executive assuming he can do whatever he wants almost without impunity.  How long can it last?

“So far, the resistance has been minimal.  Democrats have offered little opposition beyond rhetoric.  Republicans in Congress have acted as if they are an extension of the Executive Branch rather than a separate branch of government.  The courts have blocked temporarily some of what Trump has tried to do, but there is a long way to run on that front.”

I agree with Balz.

But, pardon me, I thought we lived in a democracy where public officials had to find a way to work together for the good of the country.

It appears to be the case no longer as long as many express fealty to Trump.  So, I wonder whether America will survive four years of Trump – and Musk.