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.

Thomas Friedman showed up again this week with a great summary of what motivates president Donald Trump.  [Notice that I did not put the word president in capital letters, for Trump doesn’t deserve that elevation.]

Friedman is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and a weekly columnist who writes extensively in the NY Times on foreign affairs, global trade, the Middle East, globalization, and environmental issues.

Here is his assessment of Trump:

“One thing about President Trump:  He is consistent.  He never surprises you on the upside.  He has never been remotely interested in being the president of all the people, only his base.  He never tries to win by addition, only by division — only by us versus them.”

The best line above – “Trump never surprises you on the upside.”  Only the downside.

Think about for just a minute.  With Trump, things are always worse because of his involvement.  Never an improvement.

Friedman also adds this to indicate that he doesn’t fear the future:

“I believe the quest for national unity is the most underestimated political force in the country today.  It is not an accident that CNN reported last month thatnearly half of Americans say they don’t consider themselves a part of either major political party, the highest level of partisan independence measured by CNN polling in more than a decade.’

“I am sure that is true because I heard the best political analyst I know make the same point.  His name is Barack Obama.  Which brings me to a third variation of ‘This Land Is Your Land.’  It was Obama’s speech at the opening ceremony of his Presidential Center in Chicago.

“My favorite passage from Obama was this:

“As algorithms keep feeding us a steady stream of distraction and outrage, as only the loudest, most extreme voices get attention, fanning our prejudices, appealing to our basest, most tribal instincts, it’s tempting to give in to cynicism and even despair, to stop trying.

“We start thinking that appeals to democracy and civic participation are corny and old-fashioned and boring and naïve, that the very idea of working on behalf of the common good is a sucker’s bet, and that in order for us to win, somebody else has got to lose.  I get it.  I am not immune to anger or doubt, but I do know this:  When we lose faith in each other, when we stop believing that voting matters, that citizenship matters, that our collective voices matter, that how we treat each other no longer matters, and we give away our power to decide our own futures, we open the door to the most ruthless, or the most careless, or the most fearful among us, who see some groups and some people as more equal than others, and see government as nothing more than a way to divvy up the spoils and punish enemies and keep those who are different in their place.”

So, as a political junkie, I like what Friedman wrote and what Obama said.

But, when we see government like Trump does – a way to divvy up spoils to increase a personal bank account – we are in trouble.