no, mr./gen. washington set the standard. the title president went to adams, and he became mr. or gen. washington.
trump is an ex president. the president is biden. mr president or president biden.
Ah, I was misremembering the standard forms of address. Thanks.
Emily Post agrees.
the tricky one is should a president who did not formally leave office, reanimate.
see savage curtain episode of star trek.
Ayup. No less an authority than Emily Post (!) explains thusly:
When addressing a former President of the United States in a formal setting, the correct form is “Mr. LastName.” (“President LastName” or “Mr. President” are terms reserved for the current head of state.) This is true for other ex-officials, as well. When talking about the person to a third party, on the other hand, it’s appropriate to say, “former President LastName.” This holds for introductions, as well: A current state governor is introduced as “Governor Tom Smith,” while you’d introduce an ex-governor as “former Governor Jim Bell.”
To be fair, though, one can only presume that Trump would rather be referred to as “Lord Trump,” “My Liege,” or simply “God.”
I almost (not really) feel sorry for the people that are trying to steer Trump with some sort of strategy.
He is a boat without a rudder. I might as well try to teach my dog how to make lasagna.
I’m sure the bull session afterwards is “Is there anything he didn’t screw up that we can run with”
Except that implies he doesn’t already know everything about the Black community, and we know Donny hates to ever admit he doesn’t know everything about everything.
Humility is not in his tool chest.
I’ve changed my mind on this a little. There was a degree of overconfidence, but the biggest motivator was just seeing the momentum shift to Kamala, so trying to chip away at likely D voters.
In fairness, he probably did better than JDV would have…
That and people trying to have a discussion with him. He’s gotta dominate the conversation, and no questioning or challenging what he says - you must display loyalty at all times - otherwise you are nasty and disrespectful. He gets this from his adoring audiences at the rallies, which is why he rarely, if ever, permits himself to be put in such a compromising position that he has to, ya know, be genuine and honest - two concepts that are not part of his schtick.
Emily isn’t correct or at least not complete. The “rule” is that if it’s a title with only one office holder at a time then Mr or Mrs should be used. If it is a title multiple people hold then they retain their old title when being addressed. So it’s Mr Clinton and Secretary Clinton. But Trump is entitled to be referred to as “The Honorable” which is worse than calling him president.
Of course this is just protocol and not law. If someone calls him President Trump it’s not wrong just against convention. But certainly calling him Mr Trump isn’t wrong.
He’s doubling down on the “not black” angle.
What would be wrong with that?
Mr. Trump, I’ve instructed the sound panel to turn off your microphone, because we have rules of decorum for this session. You will treat the panelists with courtesy and will refrain from personal attacks, or you will be asked to leave the stage. Before I turn your microphone back on, please nod your agreement that you will not insult our members again.
If he doesn’t agree, end the engagement. Sure, he’ll claim victory, but the media can cover it as, “Trump refuses to agree to a respectful conversation, is disinvited from journalist meeting.”
Has there been a shot of the crowd laughing at him? I heard them, but never saw them.
One must wonder how JD Vance is taking the news that he is the father of children that can never be white.
I am cheered to hear the crowd laughing at him when he claims Harris didn’t previously identify as Black.
The only problem is that he wasn’t introduced as Mr. Trump.
He was introduced as Mr. President.
Transcript from the discussion, started by Rachel Scott, ABC News:
Scott: Mr. President, we so appreciate you giving us an hour of your time.
I want to start by addressing the elephant in the room, sir.
A lot of people did not think it was appropriate for you to be here today. You have pushed false claims about some of your rivals, from Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama, saying they were not born in the United States, which is not true. You have told four congresswomen of color, who were American citizens, to go back to where they came from. You have used words like “animal” and “rabid” to describe Black District Attorneys. You’ve attacked Black journalists, calling them a loser, saying the questions they ask are “stupid and racist.” You had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mar-A-Lago resort.
So, my question, Sir, now that you are asking Black supporters to vote for you, “Why should Black voters trust you, once you’ve used language like that?”
Trump: Well, first of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question so…, in such a horrible manner, first question. [Laughter] You don’t even say “Hello, how are you,”…are you from ABC? Because I think they are a fake news network, a terrible network [continued laughter]…
Perhaps it could be considered aggressive to start by asking him about the insulting language he has used towards people of color, but it wasn’t disrespectful. Trump was the one who used such language and was only being asked about what he was on record saying. Trump was in the wrong place if he didn’t expect to face aggressive questions. It was Trump, however, who turned it disrespectful.
Good moderation would have called Trump out on his disrespectful behavior. Of course, Trump isn’t going to last very long if he is forced to be respectful towards those he is talking with. That would have been a much shorter session.
Okay, can we just put this to rest?
Trump will never, ever be respectful towards those he is talking with.
There is no means on Earth that can “force” him to do that. In the last debate, they turned off microphones, but as soon as his was back on, he just spewed nonsense and vitriol the whole time. If the moderators try to tell him that’s unacceptable, he’ll just start insulting the moderators as well.
He will not play nice, ever, no matter what you do.
So either don’t let him talk at all, or just work around him.
I blame my Sleepy Joe and my lack of joe.
He’s not directly, but there’s an account on X that reposts all of his Truth Social posts. I refuse to visit that platform and give him the satisfaction.
I’ve been tempted to sign-up on TS, with a handle like “Brandon1” or similar, but yeah, I am not sure I want to wander THAT far into the cesspool.