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.

Donald Trump is known for lying about just about anything.  But, he also has been using another rationale lately to escape criticism about dumb stuff happening on his watch.

“I didn’t know about that,” Trump says.

Sure.

The Washington Post ran a column last weekend making this point in detail.  It was written by Aaron Blake and appeared under this headline: “The many big things Trump ‘didn’t know’ about.”

Here is more from the column:

“One of the major themes of Trump’s 2024 campaign was the idea that Joe Biden had no idea what was happening around him.

“Trump called then-President Biden a ‘vessel’ for others who were really running the country.  ‘He has no idea what’s going on,’ Trump said in early 2024.  He remarked in 2022 that Biden ‘has no idea what he’s doing, and he’s got no idea what he’s saying or where he is. Other than that, he’s doing a fantastic job.’”

But, the Post adds, “less than four months after taking over from Biden, it’s Trump who, in his own telling, is often unaware of major events surrounding him and directly involving his administration.

“At other times, Trump has distanced himself or appeared distant from his administration’s major and consequential decisions, as if he had little or nothing to do with them.”

The writer, Bump, provided a range of specific examples of Trump’s “I don’t know” defense:

• Most recently, Trump on Thursday suggested he had played virtually no role in the selection of his new pick for surgeon general, Casey Means.  “I don’t know her,” Trump said.  “I listened to the recommendation of Bobby” — i.e., Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”
• On Wednesday, Trump said he “didn’t know that” when asked about a key Republican senator coming out against his controversial nominee to be U.S. attorney for Washington , D.C., Ed Martin.
• On Sunday, Trump was asked about more than a dozen layoffs the previous Friday in a program that provides health care for 9/11 first responders and survivors.  “I’m not aware of anything that may have been brought up recently,” Trump said.
• Often, Trump says he is unfamiliar with major foreign policy and military stories taking place around him.  One of the most striking examples — given the stakes — has to do with four U.S. soldiers who died in a training exercise in Lithuania.  Trump paused briefly at the mention of “the soldiers in Lithuania” before saying he hadn’t been briefed on the situation.”
• The story was similar to one of the major controversies of Trump’s second term:  “Signalgate.”  The content of the Signal chat string, which the Atlantic later published, also raised eyebrows for how distant it made Trump appear from the deliberations over a foreign military strike. “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” Vice President JD Vance said at one point, according to the report.
• Somewhat similarly, Reuters reported last week that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in late January ordered a halt to military aid shipments to Ukraine, despite Trump having issued no such order and reportedly being unaware of what Hegseth was doing.

Enough?  Perhaps.

But, add to this, all of Trump’s assurance that he doesn’t know anything about immigration and deportation controversies that are occurring at his specific order.

Finally, this conclusion from the writer, Blake:

“The ‘I don’t know defense’ is certainly a notable posture from the man who said his predecessor was hopelessly disengaged and repeatedly talked about how bad it was to have people who aren’t the president call the shots.”

After writing this blog, I will be heading to the golf course to get my head on straight after too much focus on the “I don’t know” president.