'Words matter:' Titles, Trump and what to call a former president
Donald Trump is not the president, but that doesn't stop many of his most loyal supporters and even his lawyers from calling him the commander-in-chief
WASHINGTON (AP) — He's a criminal defendant, a businessman and a politician. But to his most loyal supporters, Donald Trump will always be Mr. President. As for the guy currently serving in the White House, they call him Biden, or maybe just Joe.
That's the conclusion from research that did a deep dive into political ads on Facebook and Instagram that found a sharp divide in how Americans refer to the two contenders for the White House. In pro-Trump ads, Trump is still “President Trump," even though he left the White House three years ago.
When it comes to signaling our political loyalties, language can be just as telling as a MAGA cap, offering a simple by subtle reminder of the false election claims that continue to reverberate online, as well as the polarization that has gripped our politics and divided our people.
“Words matter,” said Jennifer Stromer-Galley, the Syracuse University professor who led the research. Giving Trump the title of president, she said, is a way of signaling that “We share your ideology and we understand — nudge nudge — that Donald Trump is the rightful president.”
