I guess it’s a sign of the declining power of print media that the U.S. government, media and populace don’t take their cues from Miss Manners anymore.
6 Likes
Probably has aides who carry around flags, ready to prop up in the background whenever he gets a chance to vomit out his drivel.
3 Likes
Yes and no, but the link is a pretty good breakdown. In introductions, a former position holder is introduced at their highest position, direct address can be that position or Mr. (or other highest position held).
I am going by the state department protocols my fiends in the institution told me about, the briefings I received, and the dressing down I got from individuals who held high office and weren’t pleased when a plebe like me got it wrong. (And telegraphed their insecurity at the same time.)
President outranks Governor, though I don’t know where US Senator stands in the protocol line. Hillary Clinton goes by Secretary and not Senator, so maybe Federal is higher than State? 
As noted in the link you provided, once out of high office, a person will be addressed by Mr/Ms, or their highest title, though I doubt former President Obama would be addressed as “Representative” Obama after a formal introduction as “President Obama.”
The protocols are stuffy and complex. The few times I’ve met with high level current or former officials (US or Non-US) usually someone emailed over a protocol sheet or came in advance to brief me on how to address the various people I would meet.
This is all part of the complex dance of high level government officialdom; the same anachronistic protocols that require a diplomat to present their credentials to a head of state and be recognized as a representative of their country. The US State Department has a whole 6 month training for diplomats on these protocols for new inductees including how to eat in a formal setting and which silverware to use — can’t look uncultured in front of the French President.
3 Likes
Weird American protocol. Freaks me out when I see someone say “president” Trump. Our last president is called “Mary” on the telly. Mind you when I met her she was also Mary and the president at the time.
9 Likes
But was she proud?
A lot of protocol is pretty weird if you think about it too much. For example, I don’t see what’s so “majestic” about some overdressed pale person sitting on an inherited throne but apparently if I ever meet one I’m supposed to address them as “Your Majesty.”
7 Likes
I think the Mayans had it right with protocol. Build structures high enough to blow the brains of lowly land dwellers and expose them to vistas of wonder and expanse and then chop off their heads.
Sorry … meandering after after a margarita or two,
2 Likes
I don’t do “sir” or “Lord” or any of that. They can’t force me to and I won’t. I have met Supreme Court judges here and I used first names. The most August doctor I have met was at the birth of our first child and she was introduced as the Lord professor Master of the maternity hospital “Siobhán” (public hospital, not a good sign she attended the birth!). So Siobhán it was.
I will call a sitting judge in court whatever they want though. They can fuck you right up right there and then. But I won’t like it.
7 Likes
But to be fair, if they stop sitting on that inherited throne, they stop being “your Majesty”. Although admittedly that’s usually because they are dead.
3 Likes
No one’s forcing anyone to say “Mr. President” either. It’s a voluntary practice just like honorifics in England.
5 Likes
yet, it seems as if media is kind of “forcing” the title onto tRump.
i won’t and you are not forced to use “president” as honorific when referring to Mr. tRump, but our most widely viewed media does seem to be forcing this in a way to maintain their oh-so-valuable access to politicians, even if those pols are fascists.
4 Likes
Or indeed when they hold other posts and still work for the state department.
1 Like
I honestly think it’s habit more than anything. But in spirit, I agree with you. There’s nothing wrong with changing traditions or just ignoring them when they aren’t useful.
That’s because “The Honorable ___” is part of their mailing address. Contact info for TFG is on his site, where you have to fill out a form so you can be added to his fundraising list.
And also because he isn’t.
3 Likes
Here in BC (and possibly other places) we are somehow supposed to refer to mayors as ‘your worship’, which is the stupidest fucking thing ever.
However, I play hockey against our mayor sometimes and am quite happy to take the puck away from him and use ‘your worship’ in a chirp.
FWIW the few mayors I’ve known think it’s stupid also, and none of them expect to be called anything but their names after they leave office.
3 Likes
FWIW, NPR’s style book only calls for using the term “President” on the first mention for even folks who are sitting presidents. After that they used to say “Mr.” in subsequent references but they dropped that requirement a decade ago.
3 Likes
Noting that Trump said “You would not have had an attack on Israel, which was horrible.”
Umm. Hamas attacked Israel because of stuff Trump put in motion. The Abraham Accords, with Jerrod’s heavy involvement, has led to a number of nations that previously vowed to support wiping Israel off the map normalizing relations and acknowledging that Israel has a right to exist.
(Heads of state of Bahrain, Israel, USA & UAE. Wikipedia.)
Subsequent to the deal above, Trump told Morocco he’d look the other way as it completes an illegal annexation of Western Sahara if Morocco recognizes Israel’s right to exist, and this also was tied to a new Morocco/Israel trade deal.
Add to this, progress on deals between Israel and Sudan, Oman, Jordan, Indonesia, Niger, Mauritania and Somalia.
But the greatest threat from a Hamas perspective is what arose a few weeks before the attack from Gaza.
There’s not much citizen support within these countries for dealing with Israel, especially now with Israel’s crushing of Gaza, but it doesn’t mean the pending business deals won’t continue or that some form of recognizing Israel’s statehood will never happen.
1 Like
Don’t forget Trump slamming Biden’s “surrender in Afghanistan” while ignoring the fact Biden was just honoring the deal that Trump himself had negotiated.
4 Likes
I think the Republicans were hoping the clusterfuck in Afghanistan was going to be a bigger millstone around Biden’s neck, which is exactly why the military withdrawal plan was timed to happen after the 2020 election.
But it was going to be a clusterfuck no matter when it happened so Biden was smart enough to rip the band-aid off early instead of continuing to postpone it. Given how short most Americans’ attention spans are that probably worked to his advantage for the 2024 election. “Afghanistan? Are we still on that?”
4 Likes
Trump is not the President. Biden is the President.
Tangentially, this is why it bothers me that Arnold Schwarzenegger likes to go around online as “Governer Schwarzenegger”
No, it’s “ex-”
1 Like
