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.

Anyone who knows me knows that I like words better than numbers, charts, graphs, or even photos.

So it was that I read a column by Maureen Dowd that appeared in the New York Times and perhaps elsewhere.

It appeared under this headline, which contains one of the words:  THE POPE BEDEVILS TRUMP.

Note the word “bedevils.”

Here is what it means:  To cause persistent trouble, distress, confusion, or torment to a person or thing, acting like a devil.

In the case of the Dowd column, it also could be a play on words.  Trump, who fancies himself as a god, if not The God, confronts a so-called devil – the Pope, so is “bedeviled” by him.

Of course, the Pope is not actually a devil.  He is just giving Trump a bad time and there is little Trump can do about it, no matter how hard he tries.  The Pope wins – always.

 Dowd used two more words that I did not understand until I consulted a dictionary:

• Strangelovian:  An adjective referring to nuclear apocalypse or mutually assured destruction, often brought about by incompetence, insanity, or shortsightedness.

Dowd says the word describes a bizarre, dark humor scenario reminiscent of the 1964 Stanley Kubrick film Dr. Strangelove or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

Or, it also could describe Trump – incompetent, insane, and shortsighted.

• Solipsistic:  An adjective describing someone who is extremely self-centered or self-absorbed, acting as if only their own mind, experiences, and desires exist.  It stems from the philosophy that only one’s own consciousness is sure to exist, leading to a disregard for the perspectives or reality of others.

Again, sounds a lot like Trump.

A few years ago, I came up with a long list of words to describe Trump.  Now, I have three new ones.