Name Above The Title

 

As Chris Licht attempts to clean house and transform CNN from a Let Us Tell You What to Think About The News Outlet to a Here’s The Facts as We Know Them News Outlet, I have a small suggestion for him. Kardashian’s aside, there is no royalty in America; wars were literally fought over this, so cut it out with the titles for life.

 

Cabinet Secretaries, Senators, Speakers, even the President, don’t get to hold on to the title for life. When they are out of the job the honorific is collected at the exit interview along with their parking pass.

 

I get why the dopes at CNN continue to call empty suits like John Kasich ‘Governor’ even though he hasn’t had the job for over three years, it has a lot more cachet than the alternative of calling him ‘twice failed presidential candidate Kasich’, but given the network’s well deserved hatred for all things Trump, it is embarrassing to hear talking head after talking head refer to The Donald as President Trump, only to catch themselves and add a ‘I mean, former President Trump’.

 

The problem stems from their misuse of former titles for all former government employees. It is not proper to refer to Hilary Clinton as Secretary Clinton these days, when, as Miss Manners points out, her obvious and preferred honorific is ‘Carpet Munching Carpet Bagger Clinton’. Get it right, people.

 

Licht, or as the kids call him ‘Even Smugger Seth Rogan’, is said to be poised to send the morning show the way of CNN+ and bring in the Sultan of Smug, Joe Scarborough. Who knows. Will it help? Who knows. Does anyone care? Who knows… CNN’s brand has got a definite stank to it these days, and it’s going to take more than opening a couple of windows to air it out. The first step is, enough with the titles for life.