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 used to say that he could fix anything.

• He could end the war between the Ukraine and Russia.

According to the Washington Post Fact Checker column:  “Over and over during the presidential campaign, Trump pledged to end the three-year war between Russia and Ukraine — which began when Russia invaded its neighbor. He made it seem easy — ‘within 24 hours’ — and repeated that claim in many campaign rallies.”

The fact:  The war is still going on and Trump has never admitted that he has failed to fulfill his promise to end it.

• He could hold down prices in the United States.

Trump’s pet program – impose tariffs all over the place – only means that prices will rise across-the board. 

The fact:  Of course, he’ll never admit the effect of “his” tariffs.

• He could…well, you get the picture.

As reported by Atlantic Magazine, something has changed in the way Trump and his minions are now justifying their actions.  It boils down to this pat phrase:  “I don’t know.”

Which is a travesty because they should know.

Examples from national media:

• On Capitol Hill, Senator Dick Durbin quizzed Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on cuts to research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, reading off a list of terminated employees and grants.  “I do not know about any cuts to ALS research, and I’m happy to —” Kennedy started, though Durbin stopped him and said he ought to know.
• In a Senate hearing on confirmation of former Representative Billy Long to lead the IRS, Senator Elizabeth Warren asked the nominee whether it’s legal for the president to direct the IRS to revoke an organization’s non-profit status.  Yet, even with time to check the statute’s language in front of him, Long deflected:  “I’m not able to answer the question.”
• In Boston, Justice Department lawyers were struggling to answer questions from Federal Judge Brian E. Murphy, who hurriedly convened a hearing after claims by lawyers that the administration put several people, including a Vietnamese man, aboard a plane for deportation to war-ravaged South Sudan, in possible defiance of a judicial order.  “Where is the plane?” Murphy asked, according to The New York Times. 

“I’m told that information is classified, and I am told that the final destination is also classified,” a DOJ lawyer said.  Murphy wanted to know under what authority the government was classifying the flight’s location.  The attorney replied — you guessed it — “I don’t have the answer to that.”

• Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem might have been better off pleading ignorance.  Instead, she confidently and incorrectly told Senator Maggie Hassan that “habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country.”  Though she thought she knew, she didn’t know anything.

From the New York Times:  “In their unawareness, these officials are taking their lead from the president. Trump once promised, “I alone can fix it,” but now he has a different message:  I have no idea, as illustrated by:

• Is his administration deporting people to Libya?  Trump answers:  “I don’t know.  You’ll have to ask Homeland Security.”
• Why did Trump choose Casey Means to be surgeon general, even though she didn’t finish her medical residency?   Trump said:  “Bobby Kennedy really thought she was great.  I don’t know her.”
• Why did Trump’s Truth Social account post an image of him dressed as the Pope, ahead of the conclave?  “That’s not me that did it.  I have no idea where it came from — maybe it was AI.  But I know nothing about it.”
• Had Trump been briefed on U.S. soldiers missing during an exercise in Lithuania?  He said, “No, I haven’t.”
• Would Trump direct his administration to provide any evidence that the graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk, who was snatched off the street by plainclothes ICE officers, was connected to Hamas?  He said, “I’ll look into it, but I’m not aware of the particular event.”
• Why did Trump sign a proclamation authorizing his administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants?  He said, “I don’t know when it was signed, because I didn’t sign it.  Other people handled it.” (Trump did, in fact, sign it.)
• Given this pattern, it’s little surprise that when NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Trump, “Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?” he had a less-than-reassuring answer:  “I don’t know.”

So, I guess the point is that Trump is watching from the sidelines and not doing anything.  Or, at least, he doesn’t know what he and his minions are doing.

If they have just a moment, I’ll tell them.