“Your Honor, what do you think of the 9th Circuit’s decision announced today on Trump’s travel ban appeal?”
I knew I was taking a chance to ask the question. After all the Justice sat on the 9th Circuit and he was unlikely to reveal any back room chamber discussions. But the mantra drummed in my head, if you don’t ask the question, the answer is always NO. So, I asked. I waited to get slapped down.
The Justice responded, as expected and as he should, “I cannot speak on a case we are currently adjudicating.” It was what came next that surprised me. The Justice continued, “President.”
I stood there perplexed for a minute. What was he talking about? I didn’t call the current president “Bush” did I? I thought quickly, no, I called him by the right name, “Trump”. I kept looking at the Justice, holding his gaze until it occurred to me he wanted me to refer to the leader of our nation as “President Trump.”
I thought of the T.V. series West Wing. On one show President Bartlet was in the Oval Room and greeted Father Thomas Cavanaugh from his childhood. President Bartlet had grown up looking up to this priest as his spiritual leader. Father Cavanaugh entered the room, hesitated, and then said graciously, “Honorable President Bartlet”. They paused, looking at each other with some bemusement as the older man showed deference to the child he had watched grow up. President Bartlet paused, looked at Father Cavanaugh, and sheepishly said, “I know it seems strange for you to address me formally, but I need to honor the office.”
I thought of all my fellow Daily Kos cousins who referred to Trump with so many different, colorful adjectives other than his title. Gosh, my imagination ran wild as their adjectives flooded my brain. I struggled to keep them to myself. But never, ever had Daily Kos authors treated this man as deserving the title of an honorable man holding a position of great importance.
I was stunned that this Justice believed Trump, as a person, was entitled to the respect that the office of Presidency normally conveyed.
If I had understood I was talking to a Justice appointed by Richard Nixon, a President who had to resign and be pardoned to escape any culpability, I may have answered more candidly. I may have asked, “What has Trump done to earn my respect? To earn the right to be called President Trump? Why should I honor him, when he dishonors all of America?” All of my frustrations with this ego-maniac, lying, self-aggrandizing, vengeful man named Trump may have poured out…but they didn’t.
Every week, since that encounter with the 9th Circuit Justice, I’ve watched as “President” Trump continues to make a fool of America internationally, works behind the scenes to close down the Muehler investigation, appoints directors of federal agencies to burn our nation to the ground and I wonder... how could he possibly think I had to address Trump by his title, President Trump?
Out of respect for the elderly statesman’s age and believing he came from a different era, I rephrased my question prefacing it with “President Trump.”
I wondered if he would have corrected me if it was President Hillary Clinton.