White House press secretary mocked for demanding media refer to Trump as ‘President Trump’

Comment drew immediate criticism and accusations of hypocrisy

Kayleigh McEnany, the new White House press secretary, has come under fire for telling a reporter how to refer to her boss — even though she has referred to him in the same way.

“To you, he’s not Trump, he’s PRESIDENT Trump!” she wrote in response to a tweet by ABC White House correspondent Katherine Faulders concerning coronavirus testing.

Ms McEnany, a former CNN contributor and Republican National Committee spokesperson took over as press secretary earlier this month.

Her response drew immediate criticism on social media. First Amendment freedom of speech issues were raised, and then people pointed out her total hypocrisy, if indeed she really thinks it is disrespectful to refer to elected officials by their last name — especially within the confines and shorthand of social media.

Ms McEnany has referred to the president as ‘Trump’ on social media in the past, and to former President Barack Obama both as ‘Obama’ and ‘son’.

Others suggested the use of a fuller title for the commander-in-chief, with Alyssa Milano tweeting: “Impeached President Trump”.

NBC legal contributor Katie Phang quoted Trump back to Ms McEnany, specifically when he told CBS reporter Weijia Jiang to “just relax” in Sunday’s coronavirus press briefing — “Nice and easy, nice and easy. Just relax. You’ve got a nasty tone.”

Twitter users listed other occasions when Ms McEnany referred to Biden, Obama, Zelensky, Trump, Clinton, and Giuliani either by their last or first names.

One user suggested: “Have several seats, Kayleigh”.