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 opening the Department of Good Words Worth Remembering because, as this blog headline notes, two national columnists have written good words – yes, “good” if it possible to use that word about Donald Trump.

Here is a quick summary:

• Catherine Rampell in the Washington Post says, “an arsonist like Trump shouldn’t get credit for putting out fires.”
• Dana Milbank, also in the Post, says, “so, here’s a shocker — it turns out that, if you elect a felon as president of the United States, the felon will continue to break laws once he’s in office.”

Here is more from each columnist.

Rampell/“Donald Trump has made a habit of ginning up crises and then declaring victory when he ‘solves’ them.  We in the media must stop giving this arsonist credit for his firefighting skills.

“The past two weeks have been fraught with international emergencies of the president’s own making — either problems that he pretends already plague us, or those he manifests into existence.  This is the best way to understand his trade-war brinkmanship with Canada and Mexico.

“Trump complains that Mexico and Canada take advantage of the United States on trade, despite the fact that he negotiated our current trade agreement with these countries during his first term.  He even touted the 2020 agreement as ‘the best and most important trade deal ever made by the USA.’

“His exact grievance alters by the day:  Sometimes, he protests that we buy too much stuff from these places (typically using bogus numbers that inflate our trade deficit). Sometimes, he faults our neighbors for migration. Lately, his chief complaint is about fentanyl smuggling — a confusing allegation against Canada, given that a whopping 0.2 per cent of U.S. border fentanyl seizure

“So was a similar, equally pointless spat with Colombia, one of our most important allies in Latin America.

“During the Biden Administration, Colombia regularly accepted commercial flights of deportees from the United States, without issue.  But Colombia refused a deportation flight in January because Trump insulted our ally by sending a (needlessly aggressive and expensive) military jet instead. 

“Tariffs and counter-tariffs were threatened; coffee prices spiked to record highs; and tariff threats were eventually withdrawn as both countries agreed to resume deportation flights.

“Trump and his flunkies hailed this alleged triumph. Major news organizations declared that his erratic threats ‘worked.’  In reality, Trump had only re-packaged the status quo.”

Milbank/After naming Trump as a felon who has no respect for the law, Milbank says this:

“Ultimately, it will be up to the courts to determine which of Trump’s actions are illegal.  But a case can be made — indeed, many cases already have been made in federal courts — that the new administration over the course of the last fortnight has violated each of the following laws.”

Then, Milbank goes on to list the violations which I won’t repeat here because it would make this blog far too long.

So, just remember that we have an arsonist and a felon in the White House.  Which ought to make all of us lose sleep over concerns about the future of our country, which Trump is trying to re-make in his image.

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, now, incredibly, the president of the United States, printed a Bible with his name on the cover.

I imagine that all he has read – his own name.

At least, he is not practicing any of the principles in the Bible, which, when the pastor of a church I attend in La Quinta, California, reads from it, he always says this:  “I have just read from the greatest book every written and I attest that all of its words are true.”

For Trump, he is reported to have Mein Kamp closer than the Bible and his early actions in his second run as president don’t bode well for anyone who treasures what the Bible says about how we should act.

Consider these “Top 10 Bible Verses About Helping the Poor:”

First, this general principle:  The Bible teaches that helping the poor is not just a good thing to do, but is also a command from God.  When we help the poor, we are not only helping them, we are also honoring God.

• Proverbs 19:17 – Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.  [My quick postscript here is that when we do “good works” for God, the purpose is not to get credit, it is to do good works based on our relationship to God.]
• Proverbs 22:9 – Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.
• Proverbs 14:31 – Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.
• Deuteronomy 15:11 – For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore, I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
• Proverbs 28:27 – Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.
• Galatians 2:10 – Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
• Proverbs 14:21 – Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.
• Acts 20:35 – In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

The fact is that there are more than 300 verses in the Bible that talk about helping the poor.

I also remember one of the major lessons I learned as I grew up in a Christian family in Portland, Oregon. It was important, my mother and father said, to help those in distress, widows, or others in need.

But, beyond the great verses above, my wife and I just read the last chapters of the book of Job in the Old Testament.  As we purpose to read through the Bible in this year, there were good words in Job about the power of God as he spoke to Job, who had suffered so much.

Good to remember with Job that, in fact, that God is in charge of all things. 

No matter what Trump thinks without any knowledge of what the Bible really says.  For him, it is something to sell.

For us, it is something to treasure and to know that we are “children of God,” as are, at least potentially, ALL people.

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.

• Tom Kim.
• Patrick Cantlay.
• J.B. Holmes.
• Keegan Bradley

Slow play artists, all.

No doubt others could be named because there are so many.  But, for me, these four stand apart.  Enough so that it is hard to watch them play.

Here is how one of my on-line golf magazines, described the situation:

“The PGA Tour has a serious pace-of-play issue that needs to be addressed soon.

“CBS Sports on-course announcer Dottie Pepper scolded the pros for the atrocious final-round pace at the Farmers Insurance Open, calling for the players to be ‘respectful” of the “fans, broadcast, and their fellow competitors.”

“The problem reared its head again on Sunday at Pebble Beach.”

That last sentence pointed to Kim.

“During the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Kim became the latest golfer to face the ire of broadcasters for his slow play.  This time, it was Golf Channel’s Frank Nobilo and others calling out Kim for taking over a minute to hit an approach shot into the par-5 sixth hole.

“Kim wound up wiping the ball into the rock outline and had to take a drop, which led to some jabs from the broadcast.

“’A little less waggle might have helped,’ one broadcaster said.

“’It was not worth the wait,’ Nobilo chimed in.

“Overall, it took Kim over 40 seconds to address his ball and then another 25 to take a swing.”

Under current golf rules, taking that long would be a violation, so Kim should have at least received a warning.  Then, if he took that long again, he should get a penalty.

Imposing penalties is one good way to cure the slow play problem, but, so far, those who lead the PGA Tour have eschewed this simple solution to slow play.

More from my on-line magazine:

“The PGA Tour can work on shrinking fields and condensing tee times, but the easiest fix to the slow-play issue is to start stroking players.  If you hit them on the scorecard and, by extension, their wallet, they will have an incentive to pick up the pace.

“The slog-like rounds and endless waggles will continue until the PGA Tour starts strictly enforcing pace-of-play rules, and their ratings could continue to suffer until they realize that they need to speed things up to succeed in an era where attention is currency.”

Agreed. 

• Regarding Kim:  Just don’t take more than 60 seconds over the ball before hitting – just hit.
• Regarding Cantlay:  Just stop bobbing and weaving before putting…just putt.
• Regarding Holmes:  Just don’t take several minutes to read putts, even very short ones…just putt.
• Regarding Bradley:  Just grab a club and hit it – just don’t dance around, re-gripping the club multiple times.

Playing faster is possible.  I am not a golf pro, obviously, but the course I have the privilege of playing in La Quinta, California, says it should take three hours and forty minutes to play 18 holes.  The message:  Just play.

To achieve this, you don’t have to run.  Just play purposefully.

Of course, we’re amateur golfers here in La Quinta, but the advice works for us.  Such a time goal might not work for the PGA tour, but something approaching four and one-half hours would beat what is normal now – five and one-half hours or more.

So this message to pro tours:  Speed up!

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 hadn’t heard of this word before I found it many years ago and offered a challenge to those who worked with me in my lobbying firm.

Use it in testimony before the Oregon Legislature, I said, and if you do, I’ll buy you dinner.

My colleagues said they intended take me up on the offer, but none has succeeded, at least so far.

Then, this week one of my former colleagues, still a good friend, found the word in a legislative document.  She sent it to me, thinking, I guess, that I would make good on my past dinner offer.

But, no, just finding the word, not using it, doesn’t qualify.

What in the world does eleemosynary the mean?

Here is the definition:

“Relating to alms, charity, or charitable donations; charitable.”

So, if you think about it in the context of testifying before legislators in Oregon on bills that could help low-income citizens, it would be possible to use the word in a sentence.

Possible?  Yes.

But easy?  No.

Plus, if you used the word, you would have to submit to a question asking for a definition.  So, you better be prepared.  And, in the background of any legislative hearing room, your lobbying colleagues would try to refrain from laughing out loud.

One more question?  How did I ever find the word in the first place?  Well, given my advanced age, I cannot remember.

But, still, a dinner awaits if any one of my former lobbying colleagues can use the word in testimony and prove, to me, that they did.

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 wrote yesterday about the surprise for many Donald Trump voters – higher prices sparked by Trump-tariffs.

Many Trump voters didn’t know what tariffs would mean.  They will soon. 

Higher prices!

The Washington Post provided a public service yesterday by writing a story outlining where higher prices will strike in “Trump’s trade war.”

Here is a summary:

Cellphones, clothes and household goods

China is the main source of imported consumer goods, sending about $210 billion worth of everyday household items into the United States last year.  That means electronics like cellphones, apparel like cotton shirts or shoes and children’s toys could be subject to higher tariffs than they are now.

Industry groups have warned these taxes could increase prices.  The Consumer Technology Association, modeling an earlier tariff proposal from Trump, said that smartphones could cost about $213 more.

“There’s very little in [the] consumer electronics space that is not imported,” Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said on the company’s earnings call last week.

Companies making everything from shoes to hardware have already said they plan to pass the cost of higher taxes on to customers.

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Produce, beer and juice

One of the first places shoppers may feel the impact of increased tariffs is in the grocery aisle.  The United States imported $9.9 billion worth of vegetables and more than $11 billion worth of fruit and frozen juices from Mexico last year.

“The proposed tariffs would have a significant impact on food prices,” David Ortega, a food economist and professor at Michigan State University, said before the tariffs were officially enacted.  Price hikes would come after years of high inflation in grocery aisles, a top concern for Americans in the last election.

The majority of America’s avocado supply comes from Mexico, as well a sizable amount of tequila and most of the imported beer Americans drink.  Like many products, Mexican beer is often made in partnership with the United States — using barley from Idaho or Montana, for example.

It wouldn’t be easy to quickly replicate the food supply domestically, Ortega said.  Fruit trees, for example, take years to mature.  Labor costs are often higher in the United States, and drought and weather could hinder growing.

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Vehicles and car parts

More than half of goods classified as automotive vehicles, parts and engines come from Canada and Mexico.  Canada was also the main exporter of industrial supplies to the United States, including building supplies, oil and metal materials used to manufacture other products.

Cars are often made between the United States and its closest neighbors, and parts go back and forth across the border during the manufacturing process.

“There’s no such thing as an American-made car.  We have an integrated North American supply chain,” Brusuelas said.

About $173 billion worth of automotive vehicles, parts and engines came from Mexico alone last year.

The proposed tariffs will make it more attractive to manufacture and assemble cars in the United States, said Erik Gordon, a clinical assistant professor of entrepreneurial studies at University of Michigan. He expects car companies might have to readjust their strategy, perhaps making versions of cars with fewer bells and whistles to keep costs under control.

Many other industries also rely on parts and materials made internationally, even if the final product is made in the United States — for example, the country imported $93 billion worth of crude oil from Canada last year.

“There are very few things you could pull apart and say it’s made 100 percent in the U.S.A.,” said KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk.

So, there you have it.  Higher prices across-the-board.

I say blame Trump for what occurs.  He doesn’t know much about what tariffs do.  Neither do those who voted for him.

I only hope we can find a way to survive the next four 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.

On this Sunday, there ought to be something better to write about than Donald Trump.  No doubt there is, but here I go again.

I’d bet that many people who voted for Donald Trump had no idea of what the word “tariff” meant.

Now, they know.  Or at least they will soon.

The reality is that they – not to mention the rest of us – will play more for lots of stuff and we’ll owe the responsibility directly to Trump.

Here’s the definition of tariff:  “A tax or duty to be paid on a particular class of imports or exports.”

Just think of it this way:  It is a tax imposed by one country on another country’s imports to that country.  So, it is a tax.  And, in the case of taxes, someone pays – and it will be you and me.

Here is how the Washington Post summarized Trump’s action, which I find to very negative for the U.S.:

“On Saturday, Trump imposed tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, the nation’s three largest trading partners, invoking emergency economic powers in a high-stakes bid to compel them to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs reaching the United States.

“The president signed three executive orders establishing the measures, the first official actions of his second-term trade war, according to a White House official who briefed reporters.”

No surprise – “Trump tariffs” drew immediate retaliation from all three countries.

From the Post:

“The tariffs drew sharp replies from the leaders of Canada and Mexico, as well as immediate opposition from business and labor groups, which warned of profound upheaval throughout the economy.  For the typical U.S. household, the tariffs will mean a loss of about $1,200 in annual purchasing power, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University, a non-partisan research center.”

So, under Trump, we now are facing a trade war.

I blame Trump for this war, one we are not likely to win – and one where the effect will be that all of us will watch various prices go up at the very same as Trump promised to take inflation.

Join me in assigning responsibility to Trump.

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 have written about this before, but I still cannot believe all the smart people running professional golf cannot solve one of its major problems:  Slow play.

One or both of the following actions would solve the problem.

• Impose penalties on golfers when they exceed the time allowed to play under current official golf rules, one of which is that, when it is your turn to play, you have 40 seconds to do so.  Unless you encounter a problem on a shot such as being close to a tree;l they have an additional 10 seconds to play.

• Inject a shot-clock into the process much like occurs in professional football, basketball, and now even, baseball.  This was tried successfully in Europe when, behind every group, a cart drove with a shot clock on the back of the cart for all to see.  Penalties were imposed.

Easy?  Yes.

Controversial?  Perhaps.

But golf’s leaders better do something before slow play prompts more and more viewers to opt out of watching golf on TV.

Players, too, should get the message.  Speed up.

One of my on-line golf magazines wrote about the subject this way, using the euphemism “competition adjustments:”

• Rulings really clog things up.  The Tour intends to make more “virtual rulings” or at least get officials on the scene faster using its video review center back at Tour HQ in Florida.

• Rangefinders (distance-measuring devices) are going to be tested beginning this year.  Whether that’ll speed things up remains something of an open question, but Tour officials said they’re going to collect data at some upcoming events.  [Data would be good because I, for one, could argue both sides of this issue – rangefinders speed up play; rangefinders slow play.]
  
  
• In a typical pro tournament, there are just too many people on the golf course for things to flow.  One quote that stood out:  “Slower players have been allowed to hide.”  Next year’s reduced field sizes should help, as should more data collection (though it also is true that reducing field sizes also means that players trying to make it on tour will have a tougher time doing so).
  
  
• The Tour is finally considering naming and shaming.  Leaders know how long it takes every player on Tour to hit each type of shot.  Fines have been handed out behind closed doors.  And tournament officials have met with slow-play offenders to try to help them speed things up.  But one tweak under consideration is sharing penalty data publicly in the interest of greater transparency (and, theoretically, peer pressure).

Okay. 

Do all that. 

And impose penalties, too.  For those who make a living playing, such action will get their attention.

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.

The best answer to the question in this blog headline is who knows.

The chief at the start of Donald Trump’s new term is Susie Wiles, who ran Trump’s campaign for a new term in the White House.

In Trump’s first term he had four chiefs of staff and wouldn’t let any of them do the job of running the White House.  So, of course, he fired them. Trump always thought he was the smartest person in any room so anyone who had the guts to question him soon was shown the door.

Chris Whipple, the author of “The Gatekeepers:  How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency” and the forthcoming “Uncharted:  How Trump Beat Biden, Harris and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History,” wrote about this in a recent column for the New York Times.

Here is one of his main points:

“Heading into a second term, Trump will have one advantage that eluded him the first time around:  A White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, who was one of Trump’s 2024 campaign co-managers and showed an uncanny ability to impose discipline on his disorder and was widely credited with piloting his political comeback.”

And another point:

“For Wiles, running Trump’s White House effectively may well be a mission impossible.  He churned through four White House chiefs in just one term.  Three found it almost impossible to impose any order and the fourth, Mark Meadows, really didn’t try; he seemed content to go along with most anything Trump wanted (including many of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election).”

So, does Wiles bear responsibility for some of Trump’s early mistakes, such as proposing to get rid of birthright citizenship and freezing all federal government spending?  On the latter, it turned out that the original “federal freeze” order was issued before even coordinating with the White House on the content of the order.

Those mistakes – pure Trump from his first term – occurred on Wiles’ watch and that reality doesn’t bode well for her tenure when issues, national and international, will become even more complex.  Such complexity won’t bother Trump – he doesn’t care about details and consequences.  But mistakes should bother Wiles.

Or, how about this from Phillip Bump in the Washington Post as he commented on Trump’s performance in meeting with the press to talk about the plane crash in D.C.?

“It wasn’t surprising that Trump turned a gathering ostensibly focused on sharing information with the public into a conversation focused on himself and his politics, that it became an airing of grievances and an effort to pass the buck.  No one even moderately familiar with Trump would be taken aback by that.  Instead, it was jarring — a visceral reminder of how different Trump’s approach to the position is than any prior president save himself.”

And, even late night hosts Jimmy Kimmel got into the act:

“A terrible thing happened.  All he had to do is go out there and say, ‘This is a tragedy,’ offer some comfort to the families, to the military families, promise to get to the bottom of it.  But he can’t do that, because he’s callous, he’s racist, he’s sexist, and, most of all, he’s stupid.  He’s a deeply stupid man.”

And, what, if anything, does Wiles do about this?  Probably nothing because it’s just Trump blabbering on with no evidence behind his invective.

In general, I have paid attention to “chief of staff” issues in Oregon where every governor has one, including the one I worked for in the Administration of Oregon Governor Vic Atiyeh.  Her name is Gerry Thompson and she and I are still friends to this day, many years after our time together in the Governor’s Office.

In Oregon and in Washington, D.C., the chief of staff is essentially in the second in power after the governor or president.  His or her word goes.

The chief of staff is a “gatekeeper,” guarding the door to the Governor’s Office or the Oval Office because not just anybody can – or should — get in.  But, good chiefs also don’t just let those in who agree with the chief officer; they let in others who, without being overbearing, have thoughts to share that a governor or president needs to hear.

According to Whipple, Ken Duberstein, Ronald Reagan’s final White House chief of staff, once observed that ‘campaigning is trying to destroy your opponents, while governing is making friends with them.’  In his first term as president, Trump did not get the difference, and his tenure was often overwhelmed by dysfunction and chaos.

“Most modern presidents learn, sometimes the hard way, that they can’t govern effectively without empowering their chiefs of staff to execute their agendas.  A chief wears many hats:  He or she is the president’s gatekeeper, confidant, javelin catcher, enforcer and occasional therapist.

“Understated but imposing and not easily intimidated, Wiles may well be Trump’s best hope of having an effective presidency.”

In trying to manage Trump’s second White House, Whipple says Wiles would do well to consider the model of her predecessor in the role, Jeff Zients, Joe Biden’s second chief of staff.

Zients succeeded Ron Klain, an empowered chief with keen political instincts and a quick Twitter finger who wasn’t afraid to advocate policy.

From Whipple:

“Wiles seems to share with Zients a less extroverted personality and management style.  The F.D.R.-era Brownlow Committee once described the ideal White House adviser as having ‘a passion for anonymity.’  

“Unlike some larger-than-life chiefs — James Baker under Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, or Leon Panetta under Bill Clinton — Zients fits the private bill, shunning interviews and TV appearances.  This under-the-radar approach has also been Wiles’ modus operandi.”

The final resality for Wiles, the campaign manager, now chief of staff, is this:

“When a president-elect goes rogue on the campaign trail, saying something outrageous, that’s one thing.  But, if a president goes rogue from the Oval Office, lives can be lost.”

Wiles, Whipple says, may well represent the thin line between the president and disaster.

And, from me, to use the shopworn phrase, “only 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.

My friends at Church at the Park are doing two things – (a) doing good work in the community for those in need, including homeless persons, and (b) writing about their work in a newsletter sent all around our community.

Here is the headline of the most recent newsletter, a very good message for today, especially given what is happening in Washington, D.C.

“One key interpretive question to ask of a text, is “For whom are these words good news?”  Here, the answer seems straightforward:  This is good news for the poor, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed.

“Our mission statement at Church at The Park is taken from another passage in that same story — Luke 14:  To create a banquet of love and acceptance for those who need it most.  

“Everyone needs love and acceptance, but there are those in our community who do not experience belonging simply because of where they sleep, or because of the color of their skin, or because something about them does not sit well with the majority culture.  

“For us, we participate in the work of building shalom by eating meals and walking alongside the marginalized, not because we consider ourselves to be holy or righteous, but because God asks us to.  And because that is where the peace and the presence of God are most visible.  

“Additionally, it is worth saying that sometimes shalom means helping and standing with those who are in need and sometimes it means confronting the systems that are driving people into poverty and homelessness.”

Good words!

The fact is that God asks us, as Christians, to be about the business of doing “good works,” not to earn a way to God, but, in the way one of friends described it, “as a result of our salvation.”

Church at the Park does this well, serving as a model for other communities.

I hope it – and another solid organization in the Salem area, Salem for Refugees – survives in the current political marketplace.

And, in that marketplace, another fact is that Donald Trump knows nothing about what the Bible says about “loving your neighbor.”

Here’s what the Bible says:

“A basic scriptural admonition to care for others is ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ found in Leviticus 19:18, which essentially instructs people to treat others with the same kindness and compassion they would want for themselves.”

So, in conclusion, I accept and value this inaugural message, not the other one.

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 cannot resist.  I wrote yesterday about Donald Trump’s autocracy – he’s always in charge, no matter what the law says.  But I do so again today, given what Trump is still doing.

It is not a surprise to learn that no one in the administration of Donald Trump knows what they are doing.  [Notice that I did not use a capital letter for the word administration because it is not clear that real “administration” exists in Trump world.]

Trump froze all federal fund programs when what he apparently wanted to do was stop those related to his executive orders.  Apparently, he couldn’t tell the difference.

Even so, several of those orders were blatantly illegal and are being challenged in court, so stopping money for them might be illegal, too.  But Trump and his minions don’t care.

He just issued a “stop paying” order so all federal funds stopped flowing, even Medicaid, as some states learned the hard way – no money.

A federal judge acted quickly to block Trump’s plan before it was set to go into effect late Tuesday afternoon.  Still, some money had already stopped flowing. 

U.S. District Judge Loren Alikhan said she was granting a “brief administrative stay” that preserves federal disbursements at least until Monday at 5 p.m. EST after a group of non-profit and public health organizations filed a lawsuit. 

So, to add to my blog yesterday, a new category is this:  Trump can’t even impose an order the way he wants.  He is not smart enough and has no understanding of the federal government, unless he functions as a dictator asking others simply to do his bidding.

I fear for the country’s well-being.

So does Dana Milbank in the Washington Post in a column that appeared under this headline – “The Trump White House has no idea what the Trump White House just did.”  Here is what he wrote:

“In just eight days on the job, Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the federal government, and he and his aides apparently couldn’t be bothered to give any thought to the damage and chaos that would ensue.

“It’s not just the spending freeze.  It’s the willy-nilly, and probably illegal, firing of federal employees, the federal hiring freeze, the moratorium on foreign aid, the threats and bullying unleashed on allies, and the moves to muzzle government agencies to eliminate accountability.

“The sheer volume of executive orders and actions stunned critics into silence.  But, as the scene in the briefing room illustrated on Tuesday, reality is already beginning to catch up with Trump.”

And, in Atlantic Magazine, Tom Nichols wrote this:

“Trump’s wave of executive orders is designed to be performatively malicious.  My colleague Adam Serwer years ago noted that, for the MAGA movement, ‘cruelty is the point,’ and now Trump’s orders make clear that the malice is the policy.”

So, this conclusion from me:  It may be that Trump does not know what he is doing, which is bad.  Or, perhaps he does know and just doesn’t care – and that’s worse.