PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This 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 of 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 it what I long for in both politics and golf. The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions like. And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

One of the partners in my old lobbying and public relations firm contends almost every day that ALL Republicans who don’t disown Trump are committing gross sins.

He may have a point, but his generalization goes way too far.

Saying ALL Republicans bow at the Trump altar is like saying ALL Democrats favor the crazy U.S. representative, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.

Both Trump of them appeal to the worst instincts of Americans. They don’t read or study. They just emote. Figuratively, they yell on the street corner to announce their won separatist views and anyone who disagrees with them be damned.

So, to paint ALL Republicans and Democrats with the same brush as Trump and Ocasio-Cortez is to do the citizens a gross injustice.

To be sure, Republicans with any dose of common sense or heart should disavow Trump who continues to defy rational thought or actions in his conduct as president.

But, most Republicans in this country don’t have a soapbox on which to wax eloquent about the evils of Trump. The best they can do is to express their displeasure at the polls next November and that, alone, will be a significant act in and of itself.

At the same time, Republicans with a pedestal should use their position to advocate against Trump rather than, as has been the case so far with most Republicans in Congress, to kowtow before the worst president in U.S. history. That’s why I commend the efforts of such commitments as the Lincoln Project whose members, all Republicans with standing, oppose Trump – and do so out loud with an eye to the fall election.

Democrats, too, have an obligation to oppose the distorted views of Ocasio-Cortez and her ilk who seek to tear this country down, not build it up.

Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn wrote about Ocasio-Cortez this morning in piece that included this deft line:

“They (Ocasio-Cortez and her ilk) aren’t interested because they don’t build, they only tear down.”

He added: “Her defeat in 2018 of a longtime Democrat Representative Joseph Crowley was a political upset. But her chief contribution to her constituents since then is that she was instrumental in killing a deal in which Amazon would have opened a second headquarters in her district. Her efforts cost her constituents 25,000 jobs, billions in lost tax revenue and the knock-on effects to the rest of the local economy.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s example, McGurn writes, speaks to the priorities of the modern progressive. “She has 7.6 million followers on Twitter and has inspired an action figure, a comic-book anthology and a recurring role in Showtime’s animated comedy ‘Our Cartoon President.’ When she deigns to talk policy, she favors multibillion-dollar pie-in-the-sky ideas, from the Green New Deal to Medicare for All, and tuition-free college.”

So, I say don’t tar all who bear political party labels with the same brush.

Assume they are individuals not wedded to any specific cause. It’s true of many Republicans who are not Trumpians. And it’s true of many Democrats who don’t hew so far left toward Ocasio-Cortez as to be off the political spectrum.

What we need in this country is individuals, from whatever political persuasion, who think for themselves and have the best interests of this country at heart.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This 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 of 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 it what I long for in both politics and golf. The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions like. And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

It is hard to believe that I, as the director of the department named in the headline, have kept it closed for so long.

As all Americans have endured the pandemic made worse by President Donald Trump, have watched as Trump fails to grasp the significance of the Black Lives Matter movement, and have grown nauseous by Trump’s ever-increasing personal aggrandizement at the expense of the country, there have been many quotes worth remembering.

So, here are a few.

A COMING ELECTION TSUANIMI: “’There’s a tsunami coming,’ said Terry McAuliffe, a former Virginia governor and former Democratic National Committee chairman.

“If he’d (Trump) early on jumped in front of the coronavirus and been a leader, this guy would’ve been unbeatable. But every opportunity he’s had to stand up and be a leader, whether Charlottesville or anything else, he’s failed each time.”

“The danger for Trump will be if the voters he lost are not willing to come back. Democrat pollster Peter Hart said this is the case, based on his extensive focus group interviews.

“Voters have arrived at a place that they’re done with Donald Trump,” Hart said. “The last four years have been total chaos, and the public says: ‘Stop the music. I want to get off.’ ”

COMMENT: Think of the Trump machine as the Titanic. It’s sinking.

AND THIS FROM THE WASHINGTON POST ABOUT THE TRUMP COMMUTATION OF ROGER STONE’S PRISON SENTENCE: “The United States is supposed to be a place in which laws apply equally to all. And while it never has — and never will — live up to that ideal in full, no modern president before Trump has so clearly renounced it.

“The president seems to be doing his best, within the confines of the U.S. constitutional system, to emulate the gangster leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a man whose ruinous reign Trump has always admired. If the country needed any more evidence, Friday confirmed that the greatest threat to the Republic is the president himself.

COMMENT: Just when you think Trump has hit bottom he goes lower.

FROM COLUMNIST MAX BOOT IN THE WASHINGTON POST: “Three months ago — all the way back on April 5 — I proclaimed Donald Trump the worst president ever. Oh, how innocent I was. Sure, I knew he was bad. But not this bad.

“Back then I thought he was barely edging James Buchanan in the annals of presidential ineptitude. But now, with the commutation of Roger Stone’s well-deserved prison sentence and so many other vile acts, he has disgraced the nation’s highest office as no previous occupant has come close to doing.

“But what makes Trump the worst president ever is not simply that he is colossally incompetent. It is that he is also thoroughly corrupt. It is hard to think of a single major decision he has made for the good of the country, rather than for his own advantage. Trump has so egregiously abused the power of the presidency that he makes Warren Harding and Richard Nixon look like choirboys.”

COMMENT: Good. Max Boot agrees with me.

A “NEVER TRUMP” MOVEMENT: “The unsolicited video submission to a group called Republican Voters Against Trump is just one small part of a broader “Never Trump” rebellion that began four years ago as a largely ineffective cadre of appalled Republicans, but which has transformed in recent weeks into a potentially disruptive force in this year’s presidential race.

“Groups such as the Lincoln Project and Republican Voters Against Trump emphasize guerrilla tactics and scathing ads as they troll the president. The movement seeks to build a national political operation to oust both the president and his supporters in Congress, with a particular emphasis on persuading white suburban voters who consider themselves true Republicans to break from the president.”

COMMENT: Again, good.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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 it what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions like.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

With so much time on my hands during the pandemic, I have decided to use my vast management skills to open a new department.  It will be called the “Department of Appalling Things.”

It will be added to the three other departments I already run — the Department of Peeves, the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering, and the Department of “Just Saying.”

For “appalling things,” there are a lot of options these days,  I guess I could I have just added them to one of the other departments.  But, as the king of those departments, I decided not to add to them, an act which I am fully the dictator.

So, here goes – “appalling things.”

THE UNBRIEFABLE PRESIDENT:  If I opened this department every day, Trump could be the lead item all the time.  Not a day goes by that he doesn’t utter some inanity.

This time, the issue is whether he has any capacity to be briefed on anything, either orally or in writing.  In the first case, he doesn’t listen.  In the second case, he doesn’t read.

Here’s the way the Washington Post wrote about the subject:

“Another question may be as important:  How does Trump absorb information?  For decades, the president’s daily briefs (PDBs) have sounded early warnings on everything from enemy troop movements to pandemics to terrorist attacks.

“Yet, under Trump, the president’s intelligence briefings have almost completely broken down.  His oral briefings, given daily to most presidents, now take place as rarely as once or twice a week.  These sessions often turn into monologues in which the president spitballs woolly conspiracy theories from Breitbart, Fox News and hangers-on at Mar-a-Lago, say intelligence officials who are familiar with his briefings.

“Convinced that the intelligence community is a ‘deep state,’ honeycombed with traitors, the president rarely believes anything the CIA tells him.

And that’s one reason why he does and says appalling things.

REPUBLICAN SILENCE IS ACQUIESCENCE:  Washington Post writer Dana Milbank took an interesting step when he wrote a recent column.  Via e-mail, he asked 11 Republicans in the Senate what they thought about Trump’s recent racists comments and tweets.

Here’s how Milbank wrote about the issues:  “President Trump’s unyielding push to preserve Confederate symbols and the legacy of white domination has unnerved Republicans who have long enabled him, but now fear losing power and forever associating their party with his racial animus.”

“On Capitol Hill, some Republicans fret — mostly privately, to avoid his wrath — that Trump’s fixation on racial and other cultural issues leaves their party running against the currents of change,”

A couple Republicans responded to Milbank, but none went after the president to separate themselves to upbraid him for his racist rhetoric.  I guess they must feel that, to win re-election, they will have to stick with him.

Which means they sacrifice their own morals and equity.

TUCKER CARLSON OUGHT TO LEARN TO SHUT UP:   Incredibly, Tucker Carlson bills himself as some kind of “journalist” as he rants on FOX News.

No, he is no journalist.  He just sets out to scapegoat others.

Here is what what was written about Tucker’s rant against U.S. Representative Tammy Duckworth, the military veteran who lost her legs serving the country and who is reported to be in the running to win the nod as Joe Biden’s vice president running mate:

“Before launching a broadside against Duckworth,Carlson acknowledged that it’s not easy to go after a Purple Heart recipient who lost both her legs while serving her country in Iraq.

“You’re not supposed to criticize Tammy Duckworth in any way because she once served in the military.

“That didn’t stop him from calling Duckworth ‘a deeply silly and unimpressive person’ and suggesting that she and other Democrat leaders ‘actually hate America.’”

As I said earlier, Carlson ought to shut up.  I’ll take Duckworth over him any day.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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 it what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions like.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

For this blog, I am indebted to Washington Post writer Jennifer Rubin who excoriated Donald Trump this morning – in both her words and the words of past American leaders, such as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and Martin Luther King.

I will let the words from these leaders mostly stand on their own as a further indictment of the buffoon who says he leads this country, but, in fact, is only appealing to, as a different writer put it this week, “the base of base,” – which indicates how Trump’s as heads toward the fall election.

Now, the words from Jefferson, Reagan and King.

From Jefferson:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

From Lincoln:   “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

From King:   “I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham.  Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside agitator’ idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

“it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture. … We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

“Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest. …

I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law”.

From Reagan:  “We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people — our strength — from every country and every corner of the world.  And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation. While other countries cling to the stale past, here in America we breathe life into dreams. We create the future, and the world follows us into tomorrow.  Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier.  This quality is vital to our future as a nation. If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”

Compare these great words to Trump’s sordid actions.  He is perverting the American dream in his own, flawed image.  Enough is enough.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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 it what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions like.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

“Wasn’t that special!”

Remember that line from the old Laugh-In TV program?  It was a famous back some years ago, but I thought of it again, for some reason, as I watched the Legislative Special Session at the State Capitol about a week ago.

And, we’re in for more “Special” Sessions heading farther into the summer.

I was glad I wasn’t there for the first one.  In the past, I would have been as a lobbyist, but, in retirement, I watched from the cheap seats and am able to offer commentary afterward.

So, to put it more bluntly, I am standing on the promontory, watching the battlefield from on high and, then, after it is over, I go down to the field to shoot the wounded.

Overstatement?  Perhaps.

My colleagues in my old firm, CFM Advocates, say the just-completed Special Session was different than any other in history.

Here is how they put it in a memorandum to clients:

“After a whirlwind three days marked by remote committee hearings, technical difficulties and Hollywood Squares-style split screens, masked lawmakers gaveled out of the first of what is expected to be a series of special legislative sessions in 2020.

“With the Capitol closed to the public and occupancy limited to legislators and essential staff, committees received testimony via phone while members were connected by Microsoft Teams, and lawmakers were logged in from their offices while awaiting votes.

“In a session unlike any ever seen in Oregon, legislators debated a wide suite of policies aimed at addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and reforming policing in the state.

“A newly formed Joint Committee on the First Special Session of 2020 was the sole committee and deliberated on policy proposals before concepts were passed to the House and Senate floors.  The 14-member committee included senators and representatives from both parties. However, a slight Democratic edge allowed the majority party to push through several controversial measures.  Lawmakers ended up passing all but one of the bills introduced.”

Perhaps as usual for the party not in charge, minority Republicans expressed frustration at the process, arguing they were being shut out of all decision-making on policy.  They lamented the fact that the joint committee was discussing amendments that had not yet been released to the public.

One of my sources reported that Republicans were not consulted – not one word – about the Special Session before it was convened in Salem.

And, Republicans said that, if legislators were to gather in Salem, one of their tasks should be to focus on how to balance the state budget.

Such is the current state of the minority party in Oregon – hangers on, not key deciders.

Republicans and business stakeholders did find time to push strongly for Coronavirus-related liability protection for businesses, non-profits, schools and local governments.  Majority Democrats, however, were unwilling to include those protections in this special session – and I would add that it is impossible to know why, given the pandemic realities.

It would have been logical to include such protections, but logic doesn’t always prevail in politics.

To pass bills, the 60 members of the Oregon House filtered through the chamber in waves, as social distancing protocols required no more than 25 members to be on the floor at any one time.  The smaller Senate – 30 members – did not need to observe such protocols.

As the headline in this blog states, legislators will be back in Salem again soon, perhaps next month.

Their task:  Re-designing the state budget, which must be in balance by the end of the current biennium next June 30.  That means, of course, cuts before then – perhaps $1 billion of them.

Tough stuff because the cuts will fall on K-12 schools, health care and social services, higher education, public safety and transportation – services that are important to many Oregonians.

Some of the Democrats in charge in Salem may want to impose new tax increases, but those will be opposed by almost all Republicans.

So, amidst a spiking Coronavirus, lawmakers will be back.  If this was a sport, it might be fun to watch.  But, it is not a sport.  It is serious lawmaking, which will affect all of us.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This 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 of 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 it what I long for in both politics and golf. The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions like. And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I make the point in the headline as all of us either have seen or will see a spate of presidential campaign ads in the coming months.

Often, those who write the ads love to one-up the other side by going negative. Here’s a reason, the ads say, not to vote for other candidate.

Against this backdrop, Steve Cohen, who wrote ads for the Ronald Reagan for President campaign in 1980, came up with what strikes me as a solid proposition for ads as we face another presidential election.

Here’s the way Cohen made his point in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal:

“As I watched the Trump and Biden ads the other morning, I couldn’t help but think of pollster Richard Wirthlin’s insight: People want a reason to vote for someone, not just against the other guy. Although politics has become more partisan and campaigns nastier, I also remembered Reagan’s 1984 spot ‘Morning in America’ and Barack Obama’s 2008 ‘Hope’ poster.

“I am much in need of some optimism. I hope one of the campaigns rises to that challenge this year.”

Cohen says he thought attack ads he and others wrote in 1980 when Reagan ran against Jimmy Carter were good, but polling and focus groups taught him that positive ads were far more effective in moving undecided voters.

He cites this memory:

“Not long before Election Day, I answered the phone at the campaign office: ‘Are you guys running any commercials that talk about Reagan’s tenure as governor of California?’ I said we were. ‘Well, they’re working. Because people I interview keep telling me how Reagan was a good governor, how he brought labor and management together, and how he had turned a state deficit into a surplus.’ The caller was R.W. Apple, the New York Times’ chief political reporter. At that moment, I knew Wirthlin was right and we were going to win.”

I am taking this advice, which means I’ll listen to ads that comply with this pledge, not the other way around in the race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Further, just by himself, Trump by his offensive narcissism will provide enough negative fodder without ads against him.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This 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 of 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 it what I long for in both politics and golf. The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions like. And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri performed a service for the reading public this week when she provided a list of potential actions by Donald Trump that would, in fact, be shocking.

Her point: All of the so-called “shocking revelations” about Trump, including those in the book by John Bolton, weren’t all that shocking, given Trump’s normal bizarre behavior.

So, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, Petri, who specializes in humor and irony for the Post, came up with a new, great list.

I don’t usually just re-print an entire column in this blog, but this time, with all credit to Petri, here is her list:

• An autocrat asked Donald Trump to do him a favor, and Donald Trump said no.
• Donald Trump spent 30 minutes quietly reading by himself.
• Donald Trump ordered and ate broccoli.
• Donald Trump put on appropriate safety gear to do a task that required said safety gear.
• Donald Trump admitted that something that had gone wrong was his fault, and he said he was sorry.
• “Please, don’t worry about the polls,” Donald Trump said. “I’m not as focused on my re-election as on doing a good job for the American people.”
• Donald Trump was asked to describe who Abraham Lincoln was and answered correctly.
• Donald Trump sat outside, enjoying a beautiful day.
• At the end of a busy day in the White House, Donald Trump paused to help his son with some homework.
• Donald Trump stopped to pet a dog.
• “No,” Donald Trump said, “Jared has too much on his plate already. I think that’s more than he should be taking on.”
• Donald Trump listened to something that Vladimir Putin was telling him with appropriate skepticism.
• Someone made a mistake or disagreed with Donald Trump, and he didn’t get mad.
• Donald Trump said that it would be “not cool at all” to invade Venezuela.
• Donald Trump listened to an intelligence briefing and waited until it was finished before he tried to say anything.
• Donald Trump spoke to the leader of one of America’s traditional allies on the phone and it was a normal, pleasant call.
• Donald Trump said he didn’t care whether he was being quoted in a book. After all, he was not saying anything he needed to be ashamed of.
• Donald Trump sent someone a heartfelt greeting card.
• Donald Trump telephoned someone in need of consolation, and he said something consoling.

So, here’s a challenge. Make up your own list of shocking Donald Trump events or comments.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This 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 of 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 it what I long for in both politics and golf. The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions like. And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Is “one-upping” a word?

I don’t know, but it’s a word that, for me, even if I made it up, always comes to mind when I think about Donald Trump.

He does something stupid one day and you think he cannot do anything worse. Then, of course, he tops himself by doing something even more dishonest and egregious.

When will this end with Trump? Never.

If he loses the presidential election, who knows what he’ll do then? He might not even be willing to leave the White House. And, if he wins? Don’t think about such a result.

What happened with Trump last week?

Well, against all advice from health professionals, he went ahead with his first full-on, on-site, political rally to invigorate “his” troops who appear ready to support him no matter what he does or says.

The rally was typical Trump. Everyone was wrong except himself. The media was the enemy.

The crowd was smaller than expected, so much so that workers tore down an outside stage where Trump was due to address some of the crowd who could not get nto the pavilion in Tulsa. Media reports on the smaller size of the crowd irked Trump.

It seemed fitting that the empty seats in the arena were blue, which, of course, is the color associated with Democrats.

Here’s the way the Washington Post described the Trump event under the headline that said this:

“The campaign says news coverage and protests led to smaller-than-expected crowds in Tulsa.”

The story went on:

“President Trump’s campaign planned for a raucous show of force at a rally in Oklahoma, but has found itself in a back-and-forth with critics over crowd size Sunday, as the campaign looked ahead to an event in Arizona on Tuesday.

“Trump aides blamed the news media for the smaller-than-expected crowd because of coverage of protests and coronavirus infections leading up to Saturday’s rally in Tulsa, Okla. The campaign also said that protesters outside the arena blocked people from entering, though Wall Street Journal reporters at the event didn’t see that happen. Tulsa police said the protests outside the arena were largely peaceful.

“About 6,200 people attended the rally at the 19,000-seat BOK Center, Tulsa officials said Sunday. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were also supposed to speak to an overflow group outside the arena, but that was canceled as the crowd dwindled.”

“’Leftists and online trolls doing a victory lap, thinking they somehow impacted rally attendance, don’t know what they’re talking about or how our rallies work,’ Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement Sunday.’”

Ahead of the rally, the campaign said that six staffers had tested positive for coronavirus. They didn’t attend the rally, but the development generated news hours before Trump took the stage to deliver a 1-hour 41-minute speech that played heavily on a law-and-order message in contrast to another day of racism protests around the country.

Washington Post editorial writers prepared a cogent summary of the “one-upping himself” president:

“None of this (what he did in the Tulsa rally) is new or surprising coming from Trump. He promoted the ‘birther’ fiction about the country’s first black president, campaigned for the Oval Office on an agenda rooted in attacks on Mexican immigrants and Muslims, and has shaped a presidency geared toward inflaming racial and cultural divisions.

“Maybe it was naive to think he could change his tune, even temporarily, even to save himself as he plummets in the polls.

“In any event, his choice is both sad and clarifying. Sad, because his choice guarantees a long and ugly election season. Clarifying, because he makes more evident than ever the urgency of evicting him from the White House.”

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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 it what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions like.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I wrote a week or so ago about the fact that almost every day Donald Trump one-ups himself with a new example of stupidity.

I suppose this could be a daily occurrence because, guess what, he did it again yesterday.

Here is what he said:

“If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any.”

Really?

No kidding?

Columnist Dana Milbank explained all of this in a column he wrote for this morning’s Washington Post under this headline:

Forget vaccines and treatments. The very stable genius has a foolproof coronavirus cure.

Milbank went on:

“Precisely! And if I stop weighing myself right now, I will gain very few pounds, if any.  What we don’t know cannot possibly hurt us. This is very much a part of Trump’s governing philosophy.

“If he stops John Bolton’s book from being published, there will be very few damaging revelations, if any.

“If his Office of Management and Budget stops releasing economic forecasts in its midyear review, the economy will have very few problems, if any.

“If Trump’s Labor Department asks states to stop the release of their unemployment claims until later, there will be very few jobless people, if any.

“If the administration stops the public disclosure of recipients of the Paycheck Protection Program, there will be very few cases, if any, of waste, fraud and abuse.”

Milbank writes that the head-in-sand strategy has become endemic during the pandemic.  Florida fired the manager of its virus-data website after she objected to the removal of records showing people had symptoms or positive tests before the cases were announced.  Georgia reorganized its data in ways that made things look better than they were.

Arizona attempted to stop the running of models showing the virus spreading.  And the Trump administration for several weeks blocked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from issuing its guidelines for reopening.

“Trump, Milbank said, “has evidently decided that, if enough Americans are willing to suspend disbelief, there are few problems, if any, that can’t be solved by averting the public gaze.”

The biggest test for this “Trump head-in-sand” policy will come with the presidential election.

“If his voter-suppression efforts stop enough people from voting, there will be very few elections, if any, that he could lose.”

My fond hope is that Trump will lose the upcoming election precisely because he has no interest in the public good, or ethical behavior, or honesty,  He only looks out, always and only, for his own good, which is far different from the country’s.

Often, the exact opposite.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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 it what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions like.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Why do I ask this question?

Two reasons:  First, I am just curious about the answer.  Second, the country club where I play golf – Illahe Hills in Salem, Oregon – has just developed a bocce ball court and is encouraging members to play.

Many of us at the Club were surprised about bocce how long it took to build the court.  Of all things, the top-dressing is a layer of shells.

So, to go beyond this, based on today’s standard approach of checking the internet, here is what I found out about bocce ball in only a few moments in an article that included this headline:

The History of Italy’s Second Favorite Sport—Bocce Ball

The ancient world delivered many traditions, none as appealing as bocce ball.

The article went on:

“You can think of modern bowling as a distant cousin of bocce.  In England, they have “bowls,” a lawn version of the game using a flattened ball which is rolled like a wheel (bocce balls are always spherical).

“The Latin word bottia (ball) is the root of the Italian word boccia or bocce.  Latin also used the word boulles (balls), hence the name bowls for the British form of the game, and in France the game of Boules.

“The name pétanque is also used in Provence in the South of France.  The word pétanque is derived from a Southern dialect of French meaning “two feet planted,” describing the position of feet before tossing the ball.

“Italian balls are solid and made of wood or a composite and sometimes metal.  French boules are made of hollow metal.

“During a game a ball is either rolled or tossed underhanded down a long lane with the aim of coming to rest near a smaller target ball called a pallino or boccino (in France it’s called the cochonnet  or “piglet”).

“Some form of bocce is played in more countries than any other ball games, with the exception of soccer.  Still, Romans are the ones who spread the popularity of the game throughout the Roman Empire, which encompassed vast areas of Europe, Asia and North Africa.

“Many people, such as Galileo and DaVinci, played bocce during the Renaissance, seeing its benefits to mind and body.  It was also played by emperors, admirals, generals, poets, sculptors and scientists.

“Bocce was also exported to many countries by Italian migrants, and remains popular with bocce courts and clubs throughout the world.

“Bocce in its current form was played in 264 B.C. during Rome’s Punic Wars against Carthage.  Teams of 2, 4, 6 or 8 men were formed.  Soldiers threw a small stone “leader” and threw it first.  Then, larger stones would be thrown at the “leader” and the stone coming closest to it would score.

“The game relaxed troops and gambling was a pressure release, taking their mind off the stress of war.  Men played in teams, honing their military strategic thinking as they played.

“No one really knows how old bocce is.  There were stone balls found in Turkey that date to 9,000 B.C.  Some say bocce dates back to ancient Egypt (5,200 B.C.), but others argue that Greece was its birthplace around 600 B.C.

“When you really think about the simplest game a child can play – tossing a stone – you might think of bocce as the very first game man ever played. Even the child’s game of Marbles is based on bocce.”

So, there you have it.  You now know more about bocce ball than you did before you read this – and perhaps even more than you wanted to know.

For me, my wife and I have signed up for this season’s bocce league at Illahe Hills.

Those who have played in previous years on our old courts, tell me that one of the best parts of the game is this…you can drink a glass of wine as you play!  So, here goes.