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.

When he ran for president, Trump said he wanted to get even with those who he felt had opposed him.

That includes individuals, organizations, and, it is now clear, certain law firms.

So, Trump’s presidency is based on retaliation.

That’s a sad commentary on any country, especially the United States.  But, then, again, it is exactly the way Trump has operated in private and public life.

J. Michael Luttig, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush and served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991 to 2006, wrote about this in a recent New York Times essay that appeared under this headline:  It’s Trump vs. the Courts, and It Won’t End Well for Trump.

Here is how Luttig started his essay:

“Trump has wasted no time in his second term in declaring war on the nation’s federal judiciary, the country’s legal profession and the rule of law.  He has provoked a constitutional crisis with his stunning frontal assault on the third branch of government and the American system of justice.  The casualty could well be the constitutional democracy Americans fought for in the Revolutionary War against the British monarchy 250 years ago.

“Trump has yearned for this war against the federal judiciary and the rule of law since his first term in office.  He promised to exact retribution against America’s justice system for what he has long mistakenly believed is the federal government’s partisan ‘weaponization’ against him.

“It’s no secret that he reserves special fury for the justice system because it oversaw his entirely legitimate prosecution for what the government charged were the crimes of attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election and purloining classified documents from the White House, secreting them at Mar-a-Lago and obstructing the government’s efforts to reclaim them.  He escaped the prosecutions by winning a second term, stopping them in their tracks.”

Luttig assumes that the Supreme Court will corral Trump.  Not clear to me, but I hope Luttig is right.

Beyond the big picture Luttig paints, I list some of the targets of Trump’s retaliation.

LAW FIRMS:  Trump ratcheted up a fight with the legal industry, aiming an executive order at Paul Weiss, one of the country’s top law firms.  That followed previous action against another firm, Perkins Coie.

Perhaps Trump’s gambit worked, at least with Paul Weiss.  The firm settled with Trump instead of facing the prospect of losing millions of dollars of federal money, though its action also sparked criticism from other firms that contended the decision came at the expense of Paul Weiss’ reputation and independence.

THE FORMER PRESIDENT:  Trump hates Joe Biden, if only because Biden beat him five years ago.  So now, as retaliation, Trump takes away Biden’s security clearance, not to mention a host of other actions always blaming Biden, not taking responsibility for his own actions.

JUDGES:  Trump hates those who ruled against him before he was president and, now, hates those who continue to rule against what his “administration” is doing.  (I put “administration” in quotes because it is impossible to suggest that Trump is engaged has any “administrative credentials.”) Now, he ignores legal directives, including as he and his acolytes deport many people over a judge’s directives.  And, of course, Trump now want to impeach that judge.

HIGHER EDUCATION:  Trump appears to hate colleges and universities, especially those who practice the art of educating students.  That includes Columbia University where Trump is trying to take away federal money, though late word is that it appears Columbia may capitulate to Trump.  

The higher ed retaliation also includes the University of Oregon in the state where I live because the university is one of 50 Trump is targeting in what have been called “civil rights investigations.”  Not true.  Trump wouldn’t know civil rights if the subject hit him in the face.

Plus, for irony, look no farther than the old Trump University (also known as the Trump Wealth Institute.)  It was an American company that, under Trump, ran a real estate training program from 2005 to 2010.  It got into trouble because, guess what, it didn’t educate anyone.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY president of Ukraine:  Here is the way the New York Times put it:

“Admirable men control their emotions when the occasion demands self-control.  They keep their promises, even when it’s not in their self-interest to do so.  They stand up for themselves when treated with disrespect, even if they might suffer consequences.  They put their lives and honor on the line to care for those who are weaker and more vulnerable.

“We saw President Zelensky do all of these in the recent contentious White House meeting with Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.  The Ukrainian president is a man of honor.  In contrast, Trump displayed all the vices that traditional masculinity is prone to:  Bullying, childish loss of self-control, a weak reliance on others (Elon Musk’s money, Vance’s co-bullying) to prop themselves up.”

Zelensky won’t bow at the altar of Trump, so Trump retaliates.

MEMBERS OF THE JANUARY 6 COMMITTEE THAT FOUND TRUMP GUILTY OF FOMENTING THE CAPITOL RIOT/  The members of that investigative committee are hitting back at Trump for his threat to nullify the presidential pardons Biden granted as he left office – pardons designed to prevent Trump from going after those committee members.

The members contend that Trump lacks the authority to revoke the preemptive pardons, but also maintain that their probe was open, thorough and unassailable in its conclusion that Trump was the driving force behind the violent rampage at the U.S. Capitol four years ago.

To put it simply, Trump disagrees.  And, he even went to the stupid notion to contend that because Biden used an auto-pen to sign the pardons (no one is sure that he did or didn’t use such a pen), they are not valid.  Except, presidents have used auto-pens for years to sign all sorts of stuff.

So, more fomenting by Trump.  Who knows who will next bear the brunt of his retaliation?  Which is one of the main methods by which he operates as the epitome of the narcissist.

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 I have said before, every once in a while, a newspaper column is so good that I choose, with proper attribution, of course, to reprint it in full in my blog.

New York Times writer Frank Bruni performed that service this time as, using very unusual ad solid words, he skewered Donald Trump.  Which, I add, is fairly easy to do these days, given all the to’ing and fro’ing characteristic of Trump who doesn’t understand what it means to be a real president.

Bruni adds a lot of perspective to the point.

So, without further comment, here is what Bruni wrote.

For Trump and many of his closest aides and allies, every day is a great day to beat up on Joe Biden.  They treat bashing the previous occupant of the White House as proper political hygiene, best repeated and ritualized, the autocrat’s equivalent of flossing your teeth.

Even so, Trump outdid himself last weekend.   Apparently unsated by his ludicrous insistence that Biden saddled him with a broken economy, bored with histrionic rants about “the Biden crime family” and convinced that “worst president in American history” doesn’t do justice to Biden’s wretchedness, Trump identified Biden’s frequent use of an automated writing instrument as some kind of smoking gun — or at least smoldering pen.

It proved Biden’s utter incapacitation.  It revealed him as a puppet of unelected operatives.  It was manipulation, deception and corruption all in a swirl of letters and a stream of ink.

Thank heavens for Trump.  He’s difficult but not drooling.

That’s the message.  The ploy.  Trump attends to nothing more energetically than creating comparisons, excuses and distractions that prevent voters who aren’t already done with him from straying.

The worse he makes Biden and Democrats look, the brighter he shines.  So what if they’re out of power and the election was more than four months ago?  They’re still useful scapegoats and flattering yardsticks. Best to keep them around.

Many wise economists, astute political analysts and all-around sages say that Trump’s policies and his tantrums (there’s enormous Venn-diagram overlap of the two) point toward failure.  But what if failure doesn’t matter anymore?  What if it can be cloaked, reclassified, contested, inverted?

Trump is hardly the first political leader invested in those questions, but he’s more relentless and shameless than most in pursuing answers to his liking.  While his health and human services secretary may be kooky about vaccines, Trump doggedly seeks inoculation from his own incompetence.

His legally questionable ejection of all those inspectors general speaks to that.  His ceaseless attempts to sideline and intimidate news organizations — through denied access, frivolous lawsuits and rococo aspersions — are about subtracting a whole source of criticism from the equation.  His attacks on scientists, researchers and higher education serve his culture war and his revenge tour, but they also aim to delegitimize the experts and the data that could refute his proclamations of success.

Overarching and connecting DOGE and Project 2025 is a grander, more diffuse mission:  To make the post-truth era the post-accountability age. (I’ve sounded an alarm about that danger before.) Biden as boogeyman plays a pivotal part in that scheme.

Trump’s fixation on him is so familiar by this point that it’s easy to forget how weird it is.  Other presidents — as a matter of etiquette or of pride or of not seeming too desperate to shift blame — kept something of a check on their public denunciations of predecessors.

Not Trump.  Ever infantile, he must always measure himself against others.  Ever insecure, he must always be best, biggest, most.  If the White House issued a Hot Presidents Calendar — which would be less odd (and significantly more benign) than much of Trump’s behavior since his inauguration — Trump would be 11 of the 12 months of the year.  He’d maybe allow John F. Kennedy to take February, which has too few days to be worthy of Trump.

Trump was maybe a minute into his remarks to Congress two weeks ago when the crowing commenced.  “We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years,” he boasted.  Then: “The presidential election of November 5 was a mandate like has not been seen in many decades.”

But he was just warming up for a more extravagant claim minutes later — that it had “been stated by many” that his presidency’s first month was “the most successful in the history of our nation.”

“Do you know who No. 2 is?” he added, as if citing some official ranking. “George Washington.  How about that?”

Such effluvium is mostly about Trump making Trump feel good.  But the invocations of Biden have a much greater degree of strategy.  There were more than a dozen in his speech to Congress, so that Biden became a refrain and Trump’s acolytes in the audience learned to sing along.

Misleadingly ridiculing the government’s Social Security rolls, Trump said, “One person is listed at 360 years of age.”

“Biden!” shouted an audience member. The Republicans laughed and laughed.

The particular angles of Trump’s attacks on Biden are no accident, either.  Trump was indicted in four criminal cases, so he calls Biden not just a crank but a crook.  Trump is being accused of outsourcing his presidency to Elon Musk, so he insists that Biden was an empty vessel filled with the wants and the whims of the meddlers in his midst.  Criminality, pliability — those become stock accusations, white noise.

And Biden can’t merely have been a flawed president — he must have been a catastrophic one.  That way, anything still wrong under Trump simply reflects the difficulty of climbing out of a hole as deep as the one that the Biden administration dug.

“Look where Biden took us,” Trump told Congress that night.  “Very low. The lowest we’ve ever been.”

That’s bonkers. But we’re descending far and fast now.

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.

Regarding the word “homophones:”

What does it mean anyway?

Here is what the dictionary says:

“Each of two or more words having the same pronunciation but different meanings, origins, or spelling: for example new and knew.”

Or, for this blog – “peace” and “piece.”

New York Times opinion writer Thomas Friedman made a good point this week as he wrote about the two words.

His reference was to the extended telephone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, which led to some reports suggesting there could be a pause in the Russian-Ukraine war, though later reports suggested that a pause could be too good to be true

Back to homophones. 

Think about this for just a minute – when Trump and Putin talk, they do so through interpreters and those individuals may not understand the difference between “peace” and “piece.”

From Friedman:

“Ever since Trump returned to office and began trying to make good on his boast about ending the Ukraine war in days, thanks to his relationship with Putin, I’ve had this gnawing concern that something was lost in translation in the bromance between Vlad and Don.

“When the interpreter tells Trump that Putin says he’s ready to do anything for ‘peace’ in Ukraine, I’m pretty sure what Putin really said was he’s ready to do anything for a ‘piece’ of Ukraine.

“You know those homophones — they can really get you in a lot of trouble if you’re not listening carefully.  Or if you’re only hearing what you want to hear.”

More from Friedman:

“The Times reported that in his two-and-a-half-hour phone call with Trump on Tuesday, Putin agreed to halt strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, according to the Kremlin, but Putin made clear that he would not agree to the general 30-day cease-fire that the United States and Ukraine had agreed upon and proposed to Russia.

“The Kremlin also said that Putin’s ‘key condition’ for ending the conflict was a ‘complete cessation’ of foreign military and intelligence assistance to Kyiv — in other words, stripping Ukraine naked of any ability to resist a full Russian takeover of Ukraine.  More proof, if anyone needed it, that Putin is not, as Trump foolishly believed, looking for peace with Ukraine; he’s looking to own Ukraine.

“All that said, you will pardon me, but I do not trust a single word that Trump and Putin say about their private conversations on Ukraine.

“What also smells wrong to me is that Trump appears to have no clue why Putin is so nice to him. As a Russian foreign policy analyst in Moscow put it to me recently:  ‘Trump does not get that Putin is merely manipulating him to score Putin’s principal goal:  Diminish the U.S. international position, destroy its network of security alliances — most importantly in Europe — and destabilize the U.S. internally, thus making the world safe for Putin and Xi.’”

So, it appears that Trump, who calls himself a supreme negotiator, is being taken for a ride by Putin.

And, homophones may be partly to blame, though I’ll keep saying that, regardless of words, Trump is trying to sell out Ukraine.

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.

It’s incredible to note that Salem Free Clinic is now celebrating its 20^th anniversary.

My wife and I attend a church in Salem, Oregon – Salem Alliance – that led the way to create the Free Clinic.  I am not proposing credit other to contend that the creation was an example of “putting feet to the gospel of Christ.”

And, eventually, 70 other churches in Salem rose up to provide support, both in the forms of volunteerism and money.

In Marion and Polk Counties where we live, approximately 35,000 people do not have health insurance and many more do not have access to healthcare.  There also are many working individuals who earn too much to be eligible for Medicaid or other state benefits, but cannot afford their own health insurance.

On top of that, there are many who may hold insurance but are unable to afford high costs or obtain an appointment in a timely fashion, a challenge many of us face.

Enter the Free Clinic.

About itself, the Free Clinic says this:

“…we are devoted to meeting the vital medical needs of the uninsured in our community.  The success of our mission can be attributed to our generous supporters and our team of over 200 volunteers, who not only provide care for our patients’ conditions but offer them the gift of hope which has the power to transform lives.”

Here’s just a bit of background on the Clinic:

2010 – Moved to Broadway Commons, its current location

With support from Salem Alliance Church, the Clinic moved into a permanent facility inside Broadway Commons located at 1300 Broadway Street NE.

2011 – Started Salem Free Counseling Clinic and Polk Community Free Clinic

A partnership with Corban University Graduate Counseling Program began to establish Salem Free Counseling Clinic.

2012 – Expanded Specialties

With the rise of diabetes and the many complications that come with it, the Clinic began a specialty program specifically designed for patients with diabetes.

2024 – PCFC moves to Monmouth

Polk Community Free Clinic moves to the new Polk County Family and Community Outreach Building better to serve the rural population.

And this in conclusion:

“Today we are celebrating 20 years!  For two decades, Salem Free Clinics has provided compassionate, high-quality healthcare to those in our community who need it most.  While looking back and appreciating this exciting milestone, we’re also looking ahead with eager anticipation.

Plus, this footnote:

My wife told me a story this morning about a development in a program we support, Free Water for Kenya.  The program arose because of interest from a woman in a Bible study here in the California desert, a study in which my wife participates.

While traveling in Kenya a few years ago, the woman saw a need and began trying to meet it – providing water and other staples for the needy in that country.

The other day it turned out that she needed $200 to help a Kenyan family re-build their kitchen that had been destroyed in a storm.  She prayed and, then, my wife, without any knowledge of this situation, gave more money to this program and, yes, it was for $200.

It was clearly, “a God thing,” just as has been true of Salem Free Clinic now for 20 years.

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.

I am a dedicated golfer, albeit a “recreational” one, not a pro.

But I do love the sport and that includes watching it on television.

It is logical for me to come up with a list of players I like, so here goes and what’s below appears in no particular order of priority.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER/  Beyond the numbers that define Scheffler’s dominance on the PGA Tour in recent years – his seven official wins last year, his two Masters victories in three years, his 95 consecutive weeks ranked No. 1, and 130 weeks total atop the world ranking (fourth most all-time) – there is something more that speaks to his place in the game.

It’s the way his peers, especially those who hover in the same ranking zip code, pay attention to what Scheffler does and, perhaps more importantly, how he does it.

Plus, I have huge respect for the relationship between Scheffler and his caddie, Ted Stock, who came out of retirement to work for Scheffler.  It was a good move for him as, last year, he made more money that many tour pros – at least $1.5 million.

JUSTIN THOMAS/  I’ve always enjoyed watching Thomas play golf because he employs such a wide variety of shots.  His performance last week at The Players’ Tournament in Florida underlined his credentials.

After shooting 78 in the first round – his third highest pro score ever – he came back with a 62 in the second.  Yes, a 62, which tied the course record and allowed him to make the cut!

JOE HIGHSMITH/  Now in his second year on the pro tour, Highsmith made a name for himself by winning the Cognizant Classic in Florida.  After making the cut on the number, he shot 64s on Saturday and Sunday to win, which gives him two years of pro eligibility, plus access to the signature events and the Masters.

Plus, I know Highsmith just a bit because, while playing for Pepperdine in college, he also was a “junior member” at the course where I play in La Quinta, California, The Palms.  There, as now, Highsmith is recognizable because of the large bucket hat he wears.  Plus, he always was friendly to me as he held the course record for amateurs from the tips.

LUDVIG OBERG/  One of the main reasons I like this young player, only a couple years out of college:  He plays fast.

He lines up his shot, gets over it and hits.  Good stuff in a game that needs to deal with slow play.  Oberg is one example of how to solve the problem.

MATT KUCHAR/  Here, I get to pick one of the older players who still is able to play with the young bucks.

JORDAN SPIETH/  It’s hard not to pick Spieth for a couple reasons – he has been good, especially in the past, but he also plays with reckless abandon that sets him apart, as well as gets him into trouble, making him fun to watch, including as he interacts with his caddy, Michael Greller, who went from teaching fifth grade in the Northwest to working for Spieth.,

Here is what one of my on-line golf magazines said about Spieth:

“Had the great American artist Jackson Pollock been a golfer, his name might have been Jordan Spieth.

“Pollock is known for his abstract expressionist paintings in which he would pour paint onto a canvas and, by using his fingers or something other than a brush along with his genius, create chaotic and captivating works that define his rare brilliance.

“That’s how Spieth tends to play golf, the antithesis of the paint-by-numbers approach that can go a long way.  Combined with a genuineness as real as a Texas summer, that has made him one of the most magnetic players of his generation.

Beyond this list of those I like, I also have a list of those I don’t like.

For now, I’ll just provide just three names.  The first two – Patrick Cantlay and J.B. Holmes — make it here because they are two of the best examples of slow play, which needs to be corrected by those who run the PGA Tour.  Just start with Cantley and Holmes and penalize them when they don’t keep up a good pace, which is most of the time.

The last name is Phil Mickelson.  He has spent the last few years destroying his credibility with me and many other golf fans.  At one time, he would have been on my list of favorite golfers.  Not now.

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.

Those who know me know that I like “oxymorons.”

Here’s the definition of the word:

“A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction with each other.

Like “jumbo shrimp.”  Or, “military intelligence.”  Or, “political leadership.”

And, in this case:  Ethical norms that apply to Donald Trump.

He is beyond having any sense of ethics and he approved it again last week.

There he was on a lawn at the White House hawking Tesla cars on behalf of his unelected aide-de-camp, Elon Musk.

It was a clear ethical violation because presidents are not supposed to endorse anything in the private sector.  Trump doesn’t care.

It also was duplicity, something which catches Trump frequently.

That’s because, according to The Atlantic Magazine, in 2023, Trump posted that electric-car supporters should “rot in hell.”

Now, unabashedly, he is showcasing Teslas on the White House lawn, even though Teslas are electric cars.

More from The Atlantic:

“Yesterday, the president stood with Elon Musk and oohed and ahhed at a lineup of the electric vehicles, saying that he hoped his purchase of one would help the carmaker’s stock, which had halved in value since mid-December thanks to a combination of customer backlash and general economic uncertainty.  

“Trump does not own shares in Tesla, as far as we know.  He has said that he is supporting the carmaker because protesters are ‘harming a great American company,’ and has suggested that people who vandalize Tesla cars or protest the company should be labeled domestic terrorists.

“But he also seems interested in helping his friend, the special government employee, Musk, maintain his status as the wealthiest man in the world.

“Yesterday’s White House spectacle was ‘a stilted, corrupt attempt to juice a friend’s stock, and certainly beneath the office of the presidency,” according to The Atlantic.”

To Trump, he posits, so what.

Whenever he does something, he believes there is no problem with it.  He wouldn’t see a conflict of interest if it hit him in the face.

If any other government official had similarly promoted a friend’s product (especially on hallowed White House grounds), they would have been in clear violation of the specific regulation restricting executive-branch employees from using their role to endorse commercial products or services.

The president and the vice president are exempt from that regulation not to endorse private stuff, as well as from some of the other ethics rules that govern federal officials.  But, still, regulation or no, Trump’s action was a clear ethical conflict.

So, The Atlantic Magazine said Trump “violated the ethical norms of his office.”  That’s the oxymoron.

More from The Atlantic:

“Trump has repeatedly demonstrated his appetite for overturning norms and pushing ethical bounds, so his latest stunt as a Tesla salesman is not altogether shocking.  When Trump learned in 2016 that U.S. presidents are exempt from the conflict-of-interest rules that restrict other government officials, he seemed delighted.  ‘The president can’t have a conflict of interest,’ he told The New York Times then.  ‘I’d assumed that you’d have to set up some type of trust or whatever.’

“Despite the lack of legal restriction, modern presidents have generally moved assets into blind trusts, which are controlled by independent managers, in order to diminish any perception that they are profiting from the office (or that they are making policy decisions to boost their own investment portfolios).

“Trump has shuffled around his assets since taking office but in general has chosen to put his family in charge of managing them.  Trump recently said that he’d transferred his shares of Truth Social into a trust controlled by his son Donald Trump Jr., a move that is irrelevant from an ethics point of view” because the money could still flow to him.  And, with his own family controlling the trust, Trump likely knows exactly where his money is and can make decisions that would increase the value of his holdings.”

Presidential conflicts of interest, or even the appearance of them, can undermine public confidence.

Musk, too, hasn’t assuaged concerns that he will separate his business interests from his role in as a Trump ally.  

Musk’s corporate empire relies on government contracts.  And the federal firings he is overseeing through his DOGE initiative are already reshaping agencies that regulate his companies. So, conflicts and ethical challenges abound for Trump and his acolytes.  But, of course, he doesn’t care.

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.

My wife put it this way:

“Well, now, we have been to a polo game and a hockey game.  What’s left for us here in the California desert.”

Good point.

This came up because a couple days we attended a hockey game here in the desert.  Yes, hockey!

There is a farm club hockey team here called the Coachella Valley Firebirds, which is an owned-and-operated affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Seattle Kraken. 

From what I can tell – I am a not a particular hockey fan, nor an experienced one – the Firebirds are a good team that competes well.

The team plays in a facility named after an insurer – Acrisure Arena, which, itself, is something to behold as it sits along I-10 in Palm Springs.

It is an impressive place, both for farm club hockey, as well as for musical events – and, for the latter, my daughter told me that after she attended an event there.

We headed to Acrisure the other night a bit early to get a parking place – there is a huge lot there — then have dinner where a number of take-out restaurants serve you with, if you can call takeout this, style.

Then, we found our seats and watched for a few minutes as workers fixed the ice for the game.  Strobe lights continued and music blared loud in the area.

A lot of hoopla, but, of course, that happens in other sports, too, as game-time draws near.

Truth be told, we stayed only for the first of three periods because:  (a) it was hard for us as beginner fans to follow the hockey puck around as skaters for both teams sped back and forth up and down the ice, and (b) it was cold.

Still, all in all, a good diversion here in the California desert as we added hockey to polo and, in both cases, don’t feel inclined to go again.  Though, I suppose, we might if the spirit moves us in one direction or the other.

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.

Several local and national newspapers recently have carried stories about what’s behind this blog headline – many voters are second-guessing the fact they cast ballots for Donald Trump.

The Washington Post carried the most salient summary:

“…there’s a common feeling emerging about the viral videos of constituents angrily confronting congressional Republicans:  That’s what they get.

“But the snark isn’t intended for the elected officials so much as for their voters.  The thinking goes that those who supported politicians campaigning on callous policies toward others shouldn’t be surprised when they end up harmed, too.  It’s a variation on the adage that people get the government they deserve.”

Many of the stories have focused on immigrants who voted for Trump and now wonder why some members of their families are being deported.

It’s what they get.

On a different but related subject – it’s also about Trump — Wall Street Journal editor retired editor Gerard Baker latest column appeared under this headline:  CAPITOL HILL’S REPUBLICAN SYCOPHANT CAUCUS.

“‘I don’t mind what Trump does, because I trust Trump.’

“Thus spoke Senator Lindsey Graham last week, cheerfully declaring the unconditional surrender of not only his own judgment, his freedom of thought, his relevance and his dignity, but — and this one actually matters —  his role as a leading member of one of the elected branches of the U.S. government.

“The submissive senator was responding on Fox News last week to a report that President Trump had started negotiations with Hamas, the terrorist organization whose destruction Graham had recently called “non-negotiable.

“Flustered for a moment by this latest sudden turn from the White House, Graham quickly recovered and gave that neatly laconic affirmation of his self-extinction and his superfluity as a thinker and policymaker.  You were left wondering how he might have responded if he had been told that Trump had just signed an executive order exiling him to Siberia, confiscating his personal property and burning his house to the ground.

“I pick on the gentleman from South Carolina only because he is the most ubiquitous and performative of the class of sometime self-sovereign senators turned servile sycophants who are supposed to be making our laws.  He isn’t alone.”

Baker, who spent his early retirement criticizing former President Joe Biden at nearly every turn, now wonders why Trump is “venturing down a diplomatic track that punishes and alienates for no good reason our closest neighbor and ally, that rewards the tyranny of a murderous and implacable foe of America (Russia), that nods approvingly as the dictator of that country carries out the rape of a free nation, that casually slashes at the bonds of alliance that have served this country well and enhanced its global power and standing for decades, my question is:  When is someone going to say something?

“I know why so many lawmakers sit by and watch as the arson unfolds:  Fear for their jobs.  I am sure they rationalize their complaisance by thinking their political future is indispensable to the nation.  But there must be more who harbor a deeper fear:  Of what history will make of them if they don’t speak up now about the wanton vandalism to the country they were elected to protect.”

So, who knows?

Perhaps some members of Congress may have their own second-thoughts about supporting Trump, even as they keep their mouths shut.

This instinct is the same as when some voters wonder why they voted for Trump when he cares only about himself, not the country.

Too late.

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.

It’s interesting to see how a current event prompts memories of the past.

Such was the case for me last week as I noticed that legislators at the State Capitol in Salem, Oregon were considering special taxes on hospitals and health insurers.

Why?

Well, the money that would arise from those taxes would then be used by the state to generate more “matching funds” from the federal government under the Medicaid program (about 60 per cent of the funds for Medicaid come from the federal government and 40 per cent from Oregon).

In theory then, the “new money” – a combination of the tax revenue and the federal matching funds – would be devoted to increase funding for Medicaid, which serves low-income Oregonians.

Sounds good, right?

Well, again in theory, it is.

But there is this tension, which I recall from my days as a state lobbyist when the special taxes on hospitals and health insurers first were proposed:  How do you insure the “new money” goes to fund health care programs, especially Medicaid, and is not siphoned off to go to other programs.

It’s almost impossible to achieve because, once new money arrives in Oregon, it is just that – new money, which is available for legislators to dispense as they wish.

What happened back in my days could be called “supplanting.”  By that, I mean that the new health care money was devoted to health care programs, but then money already in health care budgets (and not arising from the new taxes) could be taken out from behind the new money and used elsewhere.

Thus, “supplanting.”

Back in the day, lobbyists like me tried to forestall the problem, but we were not able to do so, no matter how hard we tried.  Especially on budget issues, it’s tough “to cut a deal with the Legislature” and have it stick, given all the other demands on state government money.

I hope current lobbyists can find a way to be more successful.

From the Oregonian newspaper story, here is more background:

**************

“The Oregon House voted Thursday to renew a tax on hospitals and health insurance plans to help increase funding for the state’s Medicaid plan.  House Bill 2010 would adjust and extend taxes on hospitals and health insurers, which the state uses to bolster federal funding for the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s Medicaid program that provides health care to low-income individuals and those with disabilities. 

“The taxes are expected to raise $2.1 billion to support the Oregon Health Plan, which covers 1.4 million Oregonians, including more than half of children in the state.

“The Oregon Health Plan is funded by a mix of state and federal funds, including the assessments on hospitals and insurance providers. 

“The hospitals support the taxes, though, because they unlock billions in federal matching dollars.  The federal government funds the majority of the state’s Medicaid spending.  According to Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, the federal government contributes $1.37 to Oregon’s Medicaid coverage for every $1 Oregon spends.

“The hospitals essentially get much of the money back in the form of larger reimbursements for the care they provide to low-income Oregonians, and it reduces the amount care provided to people without insurance that goes uncompensated.”

Again, this caveat from me, not from the Oregonian newspaper:  All this sounds good as long as the “new money” goes directly to health care and is not “supplanted.”

On that, to use a time-worn phrase, time will tell.

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.

Those who know me know that one of my favorite political quotes of all time was uttered by the late military general Colin Powell.

When asked whether he would consider running for president, Powell said no “because he bemoaned the loss of civility in politics.”

Well, given the state of politics today – the loss of nearly any form of civility – Powell is probably turning over in his grave.

If he were here, regardless of his obvious status as a military hero and his political acumen, he would be “fired” by Donald Trump who preens around demanding fealty.  [Don’t you like those two words – preens and fealty – for they describe Trump very accurately?] 

If Trump says something, then at least he believes it is true.  So do his ever-tolerant MAGA followers.

There is no room for middle ground.  And I believe the country will be worse for it.

Consider only one recent example of incivility.

When Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky showed up at the White House to meet with Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, he was not prepared for his reception.

Rather than discuss how to work toward ending the war with Russia in the Ukraine, instead Trump and Vance ambushed the Zelensky.  They yelled and screamed before TV cameras to ask why Zelensky wasn’t more compliant and thankful for U.S. aid.

Then, they booted him out of the Oval Office.

No doubt the ambush was planned in advance because Trump called it “great TV.”  He should know because, remember, he is a reality-TV host, not a real president.

Writing in the New York Times, columnist Frank Bruni put it this way:

“If you listened carefully to Trump’s disgraceful dressing down of his Ukrainian counterpart in the Oval Office last week, you heard gripes galore, but with one theme above all others:  Americans had been played for fools.

“We’d been suckered, swindled, bamboozled.  In all our goodness and glory, we’d forked over hundreds of billions of dollars to Volodymyr Zelensky and received nothing in return — no assurance of victory, no mineral rights, not even a properly flowery thank-you note.

“What chumps we were.

“If you looked for a through line in Trump’s titanically self-indulgent blathering to Congress last week , you saw the same bitterness, the identical complaint about Americans’ treatment by trading partners, by supposed allies, by fraudsters in the federal government, by woke zealots.

“We could slap giant tariffs on countries that had long taken lavish advantage of us — or we could continue being chumps.  We could cheer on Elon Musk as he derailed the gravy train of frivolous government contracts and superfluous federal employees — or we could consign ourselves to chump-ness forevermore.”

Now, to a degree, Bruni is using writing “tongue in cheek” when he says “we are chumps.”  At least, chumps in Trump’s mind as he practices his art of always being the victim.

But, as for civility, Trump does not know the meaning of the word.

And, if politics was supposed to have an element of civility in it, it won’t as long as Trump is around.

Where is Colin Powell when we need him?