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 if we needed another indication that Trump speaks before he thinks, it happened again over the weekend.

This time, speaking off-the-cuff to reporters (off-the-cuff is redundant), Trump said he had ordered several federal agencies to re-open Alcatraz Prison, which has been closed since 1963 because it was too costly to operate.

Here is how the Washington Post reported the Trump order:

“In a post on social media, Trump said he directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Homeland Security Department, the Justice Department and others to work together to open a ‘substantially enlarged and rebuilt’ Alcatraz that would house the country’s ‘most ruthless and violent’ offenders.”

As background, Alcatraz was shut down in March 1963 because of steep operational costs, which were nearly three times more than any other federal prison.

One reason it was so expensive to operate was its offshore location.  All supplies — including water — had to be transported by boat. To this day, Alcatraz has no electrical or water lines from the mainland, and fuel for electric generators has to be ferried to the island.

Plus, since its closure, Alcatraz has been site of several movies, including one that chronicled an escape by a felon who was never found, but probably died in the ocean in an attempt to swim to freedom.  It also is a tourist destination.

Any normal president, either Republican or Democrat, would ask for a major study to assess the possibility of re-opening Alcatraz before says he or she would do so.

So, why did Trump announce this idea?

Who knows?

It just happened to cross mind, so he opened his mouth.

Representative Nancy Pelosi, now a back-bencher in the U.S. House of Representatives, put it best when she said she “didn’t consider the Trump idea worth anything.”

Of course, that can be said about many ideas in Trump’s brain that happen to come out of his mouth.

Two other cases of Trump speaking or acting before thinking:

1. Trump, after heading over to the Pope’s funeral, dressed up in Pope-garb and posed for pictures as if he was Pope.  No doubt he thought it was cool.  Most Catholics seethed at his action.  So did I – and I am not catholic.
2. According to Atlantic Magazine, Trump doesn’t care about national security.  He’s not against it or actively trying to undermine it; he’s just not interested.  He’s not interested in hearing reasoned advice, developed through a careful process, as the National Security Council has done — especially if this advice contradicts his impulses or ideology.  On an issue like the strikes on Houthis in Yemen, where Trump has fewer interests to balance, problems don’t tend to arise.  But on marquee issues that Trump can’t ignore, and where tough trade-offs and complicated strategy enter the picture — such as with Ukraine or China — someone has to start giving him news he doesn’t like.

For the person delivering bad news to Trump, that person will be out of a job soon.  Because Trump likes only good news that aggrandizes himself.