. . . And Welcome Back, Mr. Trump

A number of readers have been asking us about Mr. Trump — or more precisely, Trump. They’ve noticed that in a second reference to most persons we use Mr., Ms., Miss, or Mrs. Yet we have lately dropped the honorific for the 45th president. The reason is that the Sun hews to a generations long newspaper tradition of dropping the honorific for persons convicted of a felony. It would be Mr. Trump if acquitted but Trump if convicted.We’ve decided, though, to change this in the case of Mr. Trump. It’s not just that he’s returning today to the presidency. It’s that we have concluded, and with growing heat, that the criminal case against him in New York County was based on one of the worst abuses prosecutors can make — “show me the man,” as Lavrentiy Beria put it, “and I’ll show you the crime.” Meaning, show us whom you don’t like and we’ll find a crime with which to charge him.In the case of President Trump, the misdeed was a misdemeanor beyond the statute of limitations. That meant it could be used only by arguing that it was made in pursuit of a felony, which felony wasn’t disclosed to Defendant Trump when he was charged — or when he was convicted. Never mind that the Constitution requires that a defendant be made aware of the particulars against him. Beria would have smiled in appreciation of the prosecutorial gall.Here we are two years later. President Trump has not been convicted of anything else, despite a criminal investigation in Georgia and two federal cases, one at Washington, for election interference, and the other in Florida, over classified documents. The federal special prosecutor has been found by the federal judge in Florida to have been improperly appointed. Plus both federal cases — and maybe Georgia’s — will be halted by the presidency.So we’re going to mark the inauguration, in our modest way, by restoring the use of Mr. on second reference to President Trump. Henceforth he’ll be President Trump on first reference and Mr. on second or third reference. Same as other living presidents. We’ll do so for others whose convictions strike us as so politicized that they lead us to doubt the integrity of the prosecution and trial itself — and the guilt adjudged.Some American newspapers have ended the practice of using honorifics altogether (the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal, among others, have dropped honorifics on second reference, though the Journal seems to use them in its editorials, which is a fine place to maintain the tradition). For us, Mr. Trump is a special case. His trial at New York and those guilty verdicts were put paid to on November 5 — by the American people.Correction: The New York Times ended its practice of regularly dropping honorifics for convicted criminals in 1973. Its policy was misstated in the bulldog edition.

. . . And Welcome Back, Mr. Trump

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