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WHEN the New York Times editorial board published the first edition of the Republican's Guide to Presidential Etiquette last May, we hoped to provide a helpful reminder to those morally upright members of the GOP who were once so concerned about upholding standards of presidential decorum. Remember the hand-wringing when Barack Obama wore a tan suit or tossed a football in the Oval Office?
Yet even as the current occupant of the White House continues to find new and shocking ways to defile his office, congressional Republicans have only lashed themselves more tightly to him. The examples come so fast that it's easy to forget that the last one happened just four days ago, or just this morning.
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. As before, these examples, drawn from incidents or disclosures in the last three-plus months, do not concern policy decisions ” only the president's words and actions.
And no, we're not even opening that Michael Wolff book.
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
Say the FBI's reputation is"in tatters worst in history" and call members of the intelligence community"political hacks"
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 newborn son
Ask, in a meeting with lawmakers on immigration policy,"Why are we having all these people from sh**hole countries come here?," referring to Africa, and"Why do we want people from Haiti here? Take them out."
Make fun of a military flag ceremony
Retweet a doctored photo of yourself with the name of a national news organisation splattered on the bottom of your shoe
Continue to call for a criminal investigation of your former political opponent, whom you call the"worst (and biggest) loser of all time" a year after the election
Exploit a White House event honouring Native American veterans to mock a senator with a racially charged slur
Change a critical element of your explanation for firing your national security adviser
Shut down a bogus voter-fraud commission because"Democrat states" refuse to turn over necessary information, even though states with both Democratic and Republican leadership did, and for good reason
Tell your rich friends after your tax bill passes,"You all just got a lot richer"
Boast that you have a higher IQ than your secretary of state, who fails to deny that he called you a"moron"
Defend your mental competency by saying that you are"like, really smart" and a"very stable genius"
Tell your attorney general not to recuse himself from overseeing an investigation into your campaign, then when he does anyway, call it"a terrible thing"
Falsely claim that your predecessor failed to contact the families of fallen soldiers, and then exploit the death of your chief of staff's son to defend yourself
Threaten to take away a TV network's broadcast license for reporting on your deliberations about the nation's nuclear arsenal
Threaten to use federal tax law to punish a professional sports league for letting its players express political opinions
Tell reporters that"It's frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write, and people should look into it"
Warn American citizens in Puerto Rico, only weeks after a catastrophic hurricane, that the federal government can't help them out"forever," even as you tell victims of a hurricane in Texas,"We are with you today, we are with you tomorrow, and we will be with you EVERY SINGLE DAY AFTER, to restore, recover, and REBUILD!"
Spend one-third of the first year of your taxpayer-funded presidency visiting your own golf courses or properties
While debating policy with lawmakers on live television, accidentally agree to a deal that is the opposite of what your party wants, get corrected by the House majority leader, and then release an official White House transcript that omits the exchange
Insult people, places and things constantly
Say that your former White House adviser and campaign chief has"lost his mind," after another former adviser and campaign manager is indicted on money laundering and other federal charges
Claim that a new tax bill you support will"cost me a fortune," even though it will probably save you millions, but who knows since you refuse to release your tax returns
Fail to grasp the basic science of climate change
Take credit for the fact that no one died on a domestic commercial airliner during your first year in office
Tell attendees at a rally to be"happy you voted for me," and that they are"so lucky that I gave you that privilege"
Continue to mock foreign leaders by implying that they are, among other things,"short and fat"
After helping to negotiate the release of college athletes arrested in China, say"I should have left them in jail" after the father of one of them whom you call"the poor man's version of Don King" doesn't express proper gratitude
Get in a Twitter fight with a senator of your own party, during which you mock his height
Praise the delivery to Norway of fighter planes that exist only in a video game
