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Trump Is Obsessed With People Calling Him ‘Sir’

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Respect is very important to President Trump. He craves it for the United States — and for himself, in particular.

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Since becoming president, Trump has done everything he can to fuse respect for America with respect for himself. He doesn’t just “wrap himself in the flag;” he literally wraps the flag in himself. One of Trump’s other favorite bits is to perform impressions of various characters in his orbit — foreign leaders, members of the military, old friends — calling him “sir” or even “Mr. President, Sir.”

“It’s always nice when a president or prime minister calls you ‘sir,’” he told the audience of a rally in Billings, Montana, in 2018. “It means he has a certain respect.”

Even Trump’s friends insist on showing him that respect, the way Trump tells it. The president once recalled when his longtime associate David Freidman refused to stay on a first-name basis with him. “He always used to call me ‘Donald;’ now he can’t help but call me ‘president,’” Trump said at a summit in Florida in 2019.

“Mr. President, I can’t do it, sir,” said Trump impersonating Freidman. Trump went on to muse about the significance in his own natural speaking voice, “That’s respect for the office, right? Maybe it’s respect for me.”