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 mixed emotions about writing about this because I am not sure I can add anything to the “open chat debate” that is roiling the federal government in D.C., as well as countries around the world.

Still, I persist because, every once in a while, something happens that is too much to pass up.

This time, it’s that Pete Hegseth, the director of the Department of Defense and his allies in the country’s national security administration, have no idea what they’re doing.

They proved it with the “open chat.”

Hegseth and company included a journalist in a group on-line chat as officials talked about what, by any standard, should have been secret plans for the United States to bomb Yemen.  In other words, on an open line, they talked about war.

To make matters worse for Hegseth, the journalist was none other than Jeff Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic magazine who has been very critical of Trump and allies like Hegseth.

Can you imagine what Goldberg thought as, all of a sudden, he was added to the list of those included in the group chat?

On one hand, as a journalist, he couldn’t imagine a better result – an inside look at military planning. 

On the other hand, he couldn’t contain his worry about this approach to violate state secrets in a way that could have put members of the American military in harm’s way.

In the Washington Post, columnist Dana Milbank put it this way:

“Since the report about top national security figures in the Trump administration sharing war plans with a journalist in a group text chat, the reaction has properly focused on the astonishing security breach.  But beyond the intelligence lapse that led the Trump aides to provide the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg with the targets, weapons and timing of forthcoming military strikes in Yemen, the contents of the Signal chat make it plain for the world to see what our allies feared and our foes hoped:  The United States is being run by a bunch of clownish amateurs.

“They misspelled the word “principals.”  They attacked Europeans as ‘free-loading’ and ‘pathetic.’  They made clear the top message they wanted to come out of the military attack was that ‘Biden failed.’”

Meanwhile, Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticized the Trump administration for using a Signal chat to discuss plans for carrying out bombing in Yemen, calling on officials to resign while saying others would have been fired for the same actions.

Warner noted that “classified information should never be discussed over an unclassified system.”

So, from my post in the cheap seats out West, a few perceptions:

• Hegseth, given his checkered past and lack of experience, should never have been appointed by Trump to run the Defense Department.
• He has no idea what he is doing and he proved it, though now, of course, he defends what happened and goes after the Atlantic editor, the innocent party.
• Those who joined Hegseth on the call should have wondered who the “JG” was on the call – and, of course, it was Goldberg.

• Those who serve under Hegseth ought to be very concerned that he can’t keep secrets.
• For his part, Donald Trump said he had no idea about the breach of national security.  In and of itself, this lack of awareness is a sad commentary on Trump and his top-level staff who did not keep him informed about the breach.  Plus, now that he knows about it, he defends those who conducted this charade as “good people.”
• All this raises questions of duplicity – duplicity about Trump’s attacks on Hillary Clinton for using e-mails some years ago to discuss state secrets and now Trump and his ilk doing far worse.
• Members of Congress ought to be aghast at this violation.  Some are.  Some aren’t.  One who isn’t is Speaker of the House Mike Johnson who said knowing more isn’t worth it.

A fitting conclusion I use for this blog post came from Jon Stewart in his late night Daily Show as reported by the New York Times:

“…Stewart applauded the administration for ‘once again carrying out its plans with competence and professionalism.’

“You know, back in my day, if you were a journalist who wanted leaked war documents, you had to work the sources:  Meet them in a dark garage, earn their trust, pound the pavement.  Now?  You just wait for the national security adviser to be distracted by ‘White Lotus’ while he’s setting up his ‘Bomb Yemen’ group chat.”

And the best additional conclusion comes from the columnist Milbank:

“The United States is being run by a bunch of clownish amateurs.”

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.

This is one of five departments I run with a free hand to manage as I see fit because, you seen, I am a management guru.

So:

From the Daily Show:  Jordan Klepper said no one should be blowing up Teslas — especially because if you just wait a few minutes, they’ll probably do it by themselves.

Comment:  No matter the cause, there is no reason for persons to commit a crime to express their dislike for Elon Musk, the Tesla guy.  But, at the same time, given how Musk, who was not elected to anything, is running roughshod over the federal government, protests are relatively easy to understand.

From the Atlantic Magazine:  President Donald Trump, never shy about boasting, has in recent weeks taken credit for a range of initiatives that were already under way before he took office.

This always strikes me as typical of Trump who takes credit when it is not deserved. 

And in that way, if not many others, Trump stands in direct contrast to the governor for whom I worked in Oregon, the late Victor Atiyeh.  He never cared who got credit for good things in Oregon.  Nor did he assume he deserved credit.  He just wanted the good things to occur.

Comment:  It’s good to reflect on Atiyeh.  I appreciated the opportunity to work for him and he was good for Oregon.

From the New York Times:  Trump’s expansive interpretation of presidential power has become the defining characteristic of his second term.  No one else matters.  Not Congress.  Not the courts.  Not public opinion.  He is the epitome of the narcissist.

Comment:  Trump and his allies are not as good as they say they are.  Consider only the recent instanced in which his national security advisers set up a phone chat to discuss dropping bombs on Yemen – and, unwittingly, they let a journalist in on the call.

Which proves that Trump and national security brass have no idea what they are doing.

From on-line golf magazines:  The only golfer who hails from Norway – I am a Norwegian by ancestry – won the Valspar pro tournament last weekend.  His name Vicktor Hovland.

Comment:  Yay, Norway!

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 a guy who loves golf, I often have thought about great pairings on the course – great pro golfers, with equally great caddies.

Remember Tiger Woods and one of his main caddies (though he has had several), Steve Williams.

Or Freddie Couples and, at one time, his main man, Joe LaCava.

Well, today, there is another great pairing as is mentioned in this blog headline:  Scottie Scheffler and Ted Scott.

When I first saw Scheffler, it was back in 2015.  The occasion was the NCAA golf championships hosted by Eugene Golf and Country Club, about 60 miles south of where I live in Salem, Oregon.

I volunteered for about 10 days straight there and it was a pleasure to be involved and, on occasion, to watch Scheffler.

At that time, Scheffler played for the University of Texas.  He was was very good and you could tell he had a lot of potential.  In a final round match against the University of Oregon’s Aaron Miles, also today a pro golfer, Scheffler won.

But, despite his prowess, his team lost to the University of Oregon which was fun for me as an Oregonian and, of course, fun, too, for the Oregon head coach, Casey Martin, who had grown up in Oregon and was a member of the golf club that hosted the tournament.

Then, soon after, Scheffler turned pro and, as they say, the rest is history.

He has become the acknowledged number 1 in professional golf, having won tournaments time after time, especially in 2024 when he set records.

And, on his bag his been his caddie nearly from day one – Ted Stock.

Here is how that happened.

Scheffler knew Scott as both attended the pro golf tour Bible study.  Then, it took another big step when Scheffler played with Bubba Watson in a tournament when Watson had Scott on his bag.  Scott had that job for about 15 years, but the partnership ended in September 2021.  Scott went on to try to earn a living as a teaching pro in retirement.

But, Scheffler talked to the retired Scott, asked him to consider caddying for him, and Scott said he would think about it.

Not only that, Scott when home and asked his family to pray about the decision for a week.  They came back and said — do it.

So, he did and the two have made quite a pair.  Scheffler made millions in 2024 and so has Scott…reportedly about $1.5 million, especially high for a caddie.

But, the good news is that the relationship between Scheffler and Scott is more than about money, winning and acclaim.  It is about their shared faith in Christ.

They enjoy a great relationship on and off the course and it is clear that they are Christians and act like it, both in life and in golf.

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.