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 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 seems these days that Donald Trump is always on trial. Sometimes in court. Other times facing a future court date.
Most of the time appearing not to care about anything other than himself.
As the hush money trial in New York heads toward the jury, two seasoned political observers – Dan Balz in the Washington Post, and Aaron Blake, also in the Posts – provided recent commentary.
Here is a summary of their views:
FROM DAN BALZ, chief political analyst for the Washington Post:
“Throughout his life, whether as a flamboyant developer, a reality-TV star or a politician who became president, Trump has always found ways to keep the bright lights focused squarely on himself. Good stories or bad stories, it never really mattered.
“What was always important was to dominate, to be the center of attention, to win the ratings war, to cloud out everyone else.
“Rarely has there been a time that underscored that aspect of his being. Both the justices on the Supreme Court and the jurors in the Manhattan courtroom were confronted with the alleged misdeeds of the former president. Nothing about either matter cast Trump positively.
“And yet it is not knowable today whether these proceedings will help or hurt his chances of being elected president again in November.”
FROM AARON BLAKE, another political analyst for the Post:
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“One of Donald Trump’s most tried and true political strategies is rubber-and-glue: When he gets accused of something serious, he’ll just accuse his opponents of the same thing in the service of creating distractions.
“Mentally unstable? It’s actually his opponents who fit the bill. A ‘bigot’ and a ‘racist?’ Again, his opponents. Ditto inflammatory rhetoric, threatening democracy, being a puppet for Vladimir Putin, habitual lying, obstruction of justice, and on and on.
“But rarely has this strategy been as pronounced and transparent as it is right now. In his first criminal trial in Manhattan, Trump has relentlessly claimed his various prosecutions and civil court cases amount to 2024 ‘election interference.’
“It’s not only the same crime that he stands accused of in this case; Trump’s own actual and alleged election interference defines most of his biggest scandals and legal issues to date.”
So, there is Trump. Under criminal charges that would make most of us worry about our future.
Not Trump. He loves the limelight, no matter how dim it is. And he translates whatever is happening to him into fodder for the MAGA clan.
For the future, I am hoping that Trump’s misdeeds eventually will catch up with him.
Perspective from the 19th Hole 