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.

Nicholas Kristof. 

Remember him?

He is a New York Times reporter who has deep roots in Oregon.  He wanted to run for governor in Oregon last time around, but, despite the fact that he owned a home and property in Yamhill County, courts ruled he did not meet residency standards.

Too bad.

Win or lose, he would have run a solid campaign.

After the legal decision, he returned to the NY Times and still writes cogent commentary, one of which is referenced below.

His latest contribution appeared under this headline:  Not quite a unified theory of Trumpism, but still an alarming pattern

Here is how the column started:

“Trump’s second term dizzies many Americans, but I find it oddly familiar — an echo of the time I lived in China as a reporter.

“Americans sometimes misperceive Trump’s actions as a fire hose of bizarre and disparate moves, a kaleidoscope of craziness.  Yet, there is a method to it, and I’ve seen parallels in authoritarian countries I’ve covered around the world over the past four decades.

“It’s not that I offer a unified theory of Trumpism, but there is a coherence there that requires a coherent response.  Strongmen seek power — political power but also other currencies, including wealth and a glittering place in history — through a pattern of behavior that is increasingly being replicated in Washington.”

Kristof contends that what he calls “parallels to Adolph Hitler and 1930s Germany are overdrawn and diminish the horror of the Third Reich.”

He may be right, but I have thought for a few years that Trump reminds me of Hitler, though, of course, I only know Hitler through history books. 

Still, Trump appears to admire Hitler, if only with the Mein Kampf book near his bed.  After all, Trump believes he is nearly a God, or perhaps in his judgment, fully a God.  He thinks he deserves to be worshipped.

And, he doesn’t care who he dislocates, kills or maims as he covets more and more power.  Just think of immigrants if you want an example.

More from Kristof:

“Democracy is not an on-off switch but a dial.  We won’t become North Korea, but we could look more like Viktor Orban’s Hungary.  This is a question not of ideology but of power grabs:  Leftists eroded democracy in Venezuela and Nicaragua, and rightists did so in Hungary, India and (for a time) the Philippines and Poland.  The U.S. is the next test case.

“When authoritarians covet power, they pursue several common strategies.”

• First, they go after checks and balances within the government.

“Trump ignores laws he finds inconvenient.  He cannot legally fire inspectors general without 30 days’ notice, but he did so anyway.  He moved to eliminate independent congressionally established agencies, which he has no authority to do.  Probably unlawfully, he is sidelining Congress’s constitutional role by impounding funds.  Even when faced with court orders, he appears not to be fully obeying in some cases.”

• Second, authoritarians try to crush independent referees and civil society institutions, including news organizations, universities, statistical agencies and central banks.

“After I covered the Tiananmen Square massacre as an eyewitness in 1989, The People’s Daily declared that I ‘spread new lies,’ and the prime minister’s office ordered an audit of my taxes and tried to bar my infant son from getting a residence permit.

“For similar reasons, Trump is doing his best to intimidate news organizations and discredit them as ‘enemies of the people.’  

• Third, authoritarians sometimes recruit shadowy private enforcersto employ violence to intimidate or punish critics.

“China has used triad gangsters to suppress dissent, and India and Iran appear to have hired thugs to silence critics in Canada and the United States.

“Trump has not gone that far, and I hope he never will.  But his mass clemency of January 6 rioters, including those who clubbed police officers, was a signal of impunity for violent political offenders acting in his name.  His removal of security from former officials facing death threats, such as Anthony Fauci and Mark Milley, indicates a lack of concern for the fate of critics.

“There are other characteristics of authoritarians that are evident in Washington today.  The sycophantic praise directed at Trump by his aides is familiar to anyone who has seen personality cults from Turkmenistan to Bangladesh.  Assertions that God has anointed a ruler or ‘spared my life for a reason,’ as Trump put it, have been a dime a dozen.”

So, Kristof concludes:  “Let’s pay attention to the larger mosaic, not just the individual tiles of outrage.  The upheaval in Washington is 1,000 things, yes, but what’s emerging is a pattern of undercutting restraints on executive power in ways that weaken the democracy that we inherited and that we must fight to preserve.”

Good words from Kristof worth pondering. 

And, I say, even if not a 100 per cent, parallel, keep the Trump-as-Hitler parallel top of mind.  For, if it continues to ring true, real citizens should have no choice but to raise their voices in protest.