In Manic Defense, Trump Refers To “President Putin” and “Angela M”
Happy Monday! While I wish there were more enjoyable things to discuss, the topic on everyone’s mind this morning seems to be—as it so unbearably often is these days—a combination of something outrageous that our Commander-in-Chief either said, did, or Tweeted.
This weekend, Trump had his first official meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a man very publicly accused of heinous things and recently of tampering with our american election. He’s also in defense mode once again, after having his daughter, Ivanka Trump, take his seat at the G20 summit rather than following typical constitutional succession order (note: nowhere in that order does “daughter” appear).
But no, I want to point attention to another one of this guy’s tweets. As if there wasn’t enough insanity going on anyway, I noticed that in his manic defense of this series of events, he refers to a few other world leaders, including Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
It may get lost among the clutter of a lot of the other madness going on, but there’s a very clear distinction in how our president addresses these two high-ranking politicians. Trump refers to Putin, a man accused of murdering journalists and political opponents, and quite possibly an opponent of our own system of elections and democracy, as “President Putin,” his official title. He refers to Merkel as “Angela M.”
I strongly pressed President Putin twice about Russian meddling in our election. He vehemently denied it. I've already given my opinion…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017
When I left Conference Room for short meetings with Japan and other countries, I asked Ivanka to hold seat. Very standard. Angela M agrees!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2017
Now, the reasoning by this is not entirely clear. Is it a microaggression, with someone who’s presented sexist tendencies through the years referring to a man by his proper title and ignoring that of a a woman in similar stature? Is it because he is buddy-buddy with old Vlad, and Merkel is left-leaning, an ally of Barack Obama? Keep in mind, this comes not long after Trump referred to Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, as “Justin from Canada”—which, to be clear, is not his proper title either.
There is a lot here, but it’s just something else to take note of in the ever-growing list of things that just simply are off about POTUS 45.