For eight years, the Republicans gave President Barack Obama and his family grief.  I’m not even talking policy here, not talking about ACA, Afghanistan, Gitmo, or any of a thousand other issues.  I am talking style, demeanor, etiquette.  Just a few examples:

• For a time, during the 2008 campaign, before Obama was even elected, he was criticized for not wearing the flag lapel pin that all candidates wear to signal their patriotism, even as they are lying through their teeth. Obama stated in 2007 that he felt the wearing of the lapel pin had become a substitute for true patriotism, but to hear the republicans, why he might as well have been an axe murderer.
• During a White House press briefing in 2014, President Obama had the unmitigated gall to … GASP … wear a tan-coloured suit! He might just as well have come to the briefing in his flannel jammies and bunny slippers, for all the hullabaloo over the ‘casualness’ of his attire.

• In August 2013, there was “shock, outrage and mocking criticism” as a picture hit the media of President Obama with … GASP … his feet on his desk! Perish the thought!!!

• And hold on to your seats, folks, for in April 2009, Obama had the cheek to actually toss a football … in the Oval Office!!! How this man was not impeached, we’ll never understand!
• At one point, Obama was even criticized for eating Dijon mustard on his hamburger, and Fox News’ own Sean Hannity referred to him as ‘President Poupon’. Why, he must be some sort of communist pinko, eating that there French mustard … what’s wrong with good ol’ American yellow mustard?

These stories were all headline news at the time, and the republicans were shocked, horrified, and disgusted, but unfortunately, they were not rendered speechless as we might have hoped.  But it didn’t begin and end only with the president.  His family was to feel the wrath of the republicans also.

• Often and repeatedly Michelle Obama was criticized for ‘weighing too much’, despite the fact that she is quite slim and in excellent physical condition. She was criticized by Sarah Palin for not paying enough attention to dessert.  She was criticized for wearing a sleeveless dress.  She was criticized for doing push-ups.  And of course she was criticized for making healthier school lunches a part of her agenda as First Lady.

While any president’s minor children are typically considered to be ‘off limits’, the Obama girls, Malia and Sasha, took their share of criticism.

• They were criticized for their dress and behaviour and told to ‘try showing a little class’. Note that when Obama was inaugurated, Malia was 11 years old, and Sasha was 8.  Given their ages and the situation into which they found themselves thrust, I would say they showed remarkable class (remember George W. Bush’s daughters?)  But they were criticized during their 8 years in the White House for everything from their dress to Malia’s choice of a college in 2016.

So as we can see, it appears that the public and particularly republicans, are very particular about things like etiquette and deportment of the president and his family, yes?

The Republican’s Guide to Presidential Behaviour

In May 2017, three months into Donald Trump’s regime, the New York Times ran what would become a series, The Republican’s Guide to Presidential Behavior.    It is a tongue-in-cheek series outlining how the standards have changed in the short time since Trump has been in office.  A few examples from the May article:

If you are the president, you may freely:

• demand personal loyalty from the F.B.I. director

• attack private citizens on Twitter

• accuse a former president, without evidence, of an impeachable offense

• call the media “the enemy of the American people”

• intimidate congressional witnesses

• hide the White House visitors’ list from the public

• vacation at one of your private residences nearly every weekend

• criticize specific businesses for dropping your family members’ products

• review and discuss highly sensitive intelligence in a restaurant, and allow the Army officer carrying the “nuclear football” to be photographed and identified by name

• hire relatives for key White House posts, and let them meet with foreign officials and engage in business at the same time

The list goes on, but remember, that was only in the first three months!  Well, the article, written by he Times’ Editorial Board, was originally intended to be a one-shot thing, but by October, it became obvious that a follow-up was needed, so they came up with another:

In 2017, there’s a whole new bar for tolerable conduct by the commander in chief. Our original guide cataloged several dozen examples. Almost five months later, it’s clear that an update is necessary. This expanded list is meant to ensure that Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and other congressional Republicans never forget what they now condone in a president.

So, if you are the president, you may:

• Mock a foreign leader with a demeaning nickname and threaten his country with nuclear annihilation over Twitter

• Call for the firing of “son of a bitch” athletes who choose to exercise their right to free speech

• Criticize victims of that hurricane still living without drinking water or electricity by saying they “want everything to be done for them”

• Attack a senator battling terminal cancer

• Behave so erratically and irresponsibly that senators of your own party resort to saying you’re treated like someone at “an adult day-care center” to keep you from starting World War III

• Spend one of every three days as president visiting at least one of your own properties

• Tweet GIFs of yourself violently attacking the media and your former political opponent

And again, the list goes on.  But the new standards weren’t yet complete, even in October, so once again, this month, January 2018, the Times’ Editorial Board saw a need to further update the list:

As part of our continuing effort to resist the exhausting and numbing effects of living under a relentlessly abusive and degrading president, we present, for the third time in nine months, an updated guide to what Republicans now consider to be acceptable behavior from the commander in chief.

IF YOU ARE PRESIDENT, YOU MAY NOW:

• Imply, without evidence, that a television anchor was involved in a murder

• Question the authenticity of a recording of you bragging about sexual assault, even though you previously admitted it was real

• Retweet inflammatory and fake anti-Muslim videos from an ultranationalist British group

• Call the American justice system a “joke” and a “laughingstock”

• Have your lawyer pay $130,000 in hush money to a porn star with whom you had an affair while your wife was at home caring for your new son

• Exploit a White House event honoring Native American veterans to mock a senator with a racially charged slur

• Tell your rich friends after your tax bill passes, “You all just got a lot richer”

And still, the list goes on.  I strongly suspect there will be a fourth installment of this New York Times series, unless we are fortunate enough to see Trump leave the Oval Office sometime in the coming months.  They said that the Obamas lacked dignity and grace, had no class?  President Obama had more class in his little toe than Donald Trump will ever have.  Stay tuned for more …

Where Have All The Big Macs Gone?