Note the demeaning formulation in this USA Today headline: Trump thumps Hillary.

[pnwmom]

There's a lot of that. But if they're going to call Hillary by her first name then they should be calling her opponent Donald.

Because otherwise it sounds like he's the serious, adult candidate.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2016/06/23/trump-thumps-hillary-cal-thomas/86250812/

Trump thumps Hillary: Cal Thomas

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-06-21/why-gay-men-are-gaga-for-hillary-and-how-trump-is-making-a-play-to-poach-them

Can Trump make a play for Hillary's gays?


http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20160622-mark-davis-questions-about-trump-shouldn-t-drive-conservatives-into-clinton-s-arms.ece

But wait, fellow conservatives have cautioned me: What about the holes in Trump's conservatism? What about his boorish style and occasionally unpresidential conduct? What about the vagueness of some of his proposals?

All valid points. But added up and multiplied by ten, they do not approach the concern any conservative should have about the ruinous effect of a Hillary presidency on every principle we hold dear:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/06/23/trump_campaign_releases_first_in_a_series_of_hillarys_legendary_lies_benghazi.html

Trump Campaign Releases First In A Series Condemning Hillary's 'Legendary' Lies: Benghazi

http://www.salon.com/2016/06/22/digging_in_the_imaginary_dirt_trumps_speech_devised_to_destroy_hillary_today_is_based_on_a_book_of_lies/

Trump’s speech devised to destroy Hillary today is based on a book of lies

[cosmicone]

1. It is sickening

Too many ultra-young journalists who are not happy with Hillary winning. Seasoned journalists don't write headlines like that.

[pnwmom]

2. Cal Thomas is seasoned but he referred to her as Hillary in the body of his piece

and never to Trump by his first name only.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Headline writer trying to be clever

(and the article is by that troglodyte Cal Thomas). But shouldn't an editor control that kind of "cleverness"?

[pnwmom]

4. How about this one: "Can Trump make a play for Hillary's gays?"

Why didn't they title it "Can Donald make a play for Hillary's gays?" Or "Can Trump make a play for Clinton's gays?"

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-06-21/why-gay-men-are-gaga-for-hillary-and-how-trump-is-making-a-play-to-poach-them

[loyalsister]

5. I'm more bothered by "thumps"

anything that implies even the mildest form of violence contributes to the ugliest parts of our culture. Hillary's campaign has encouraged people to use her first name along. "ready for Hillary" etc. It's an effort to promote a sense of familiarity and affection for the candidate.

[pnwmom]

6. They should be referring to him as Donald then. Otherwise, the implication

is that he's the more adult candidate.

It's fine for us to call her Hillary among ourselves. But professional reporters shouldn't be referring to one by his last name and the other by her first.

[loyalsister]

7. You really think they came up with that?

She wants to ensure that she is seen as distinct from her husband. If someone says Clinton that is who people first think of. Mrs. Clinton is also not something her campaign would want. This is all very basic, and if you doubt that is how the campaign wants it, just take a look at the logo which was designed for appeal beyond her supporters.

[pnwmom]

8. This is a longstanding, historical issue. Hillary Clinton is not the first woman

to have been treated in an unequal way by the press.

[loyalsister]

9. The media is far from perfect or even good

but this charge is downright juvenile. The press and everyone who is talking about her are following her campaign's lead. It's not as if the sound of the name "Trump" inspires respect.

[pnwmom]

10. The charge isn't juvenile. That's insulting to the many feminists who

have addressed this issue.

There are a variety of opinions expressed in this article, but I agree with Deborah Tannen's.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article24782737.html

Clinton, the first female candidate to seriously vie for the presidency, was called by her first name four times more than her 2008 Democratic rival Barack Obama, according to a study examining news coverage of the 2008 presidential race by University of Utah researchers published in the Political Research Quarterly. Male news anchors and reporters also dropped Clinton’s title of senator more than did female broadcasters, the document showed.

In any case, John Mosier, 67, of New York City, never liked the practice. “I think it generally cheapens the image of the candidate,” he said.

Deborah Tannen, a linguistics professor at Georgetown University who referred to Clinton in her book, “Talking from 9 to 5: Women and Men at Work,” said Clinton may be called by her first name in part because “Hillary” is more distinctive than common female names such as Susan or Mary. (Clinton’s mother had said she was named after Sir Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand explorer who with Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest. In 2006, her aides said that was not true.)

Tannen said that no matter the reason that people use first names – even if it’s a sign of friendliness – there is no denying that the result is that the person does not get as much respect.

[loyalsister]

11. If she went by Rodham maybe

But she is using her husband, who happens to be a former president. She wants to distinguish herself. Her campaign is pulling in this direction.

[pnwmom]

12. If reporters are going to call her Hillary, they should call him Donald. n/t

[loyalsister]

15. And Donald has a more dignified tone

The fact that Trump rhymes with hump, lump, dump, rump etc. It's a very ugly sounding name.
Remember how Bush 2 was distinguished from his father? W. It's marketing and the media is doing exactly what the campaign is encouraging in order to promote her. You can bet they did some focus group testing on it.

[pnwmom]

16. Not to those who think of Donald Duck. n/t

[loyalsister]

17. If children were the target audience it might be a concern

This campaign reminds me of an Eddie Murphy bit where he said he went to Texas looking for racism. It would be to the advantage of the campaign and women generally if surrogates didn't cheapen and diminish sexism by inventing transgressions.

[pnwmom]

18. Since adults are former children they still make the association.

And we could help in that.

[John Poet]

19. Here here. That's rather offensive,

particularly considering the sexes of the subjects.

[anigbrowl]

13. Thing is there's only one Trump but two Clintons

OK I know that's not technically correct but there are two well-known politicians called Clinton, and when you're writing a headline you go for the minimum of ambiguity. I've noticed myself on DU that I often write hillary rather than typing out her full name, and quite often I'd find myself writing 'Sanders blah blah blah Hillary yadda yadda yadda' and then having to back and change Sanders to Bernie or Hillary to Clinton depending on the complexity and tone of what I was writing about.

In a lighthearted post I'd refer to Bernie and hillary for example, because first names can have positive connotations of intimacy and friendliness as well as diminishing someone. On a policy-heavy discussion I'd likely call them Sanders and Clinton, more in line with their professional nomenclature. Of course you'd hope professional writers take such things into account as a matter of course, but on the other hand I don't have to deal with deadlines when I'm posting to DU and can take as long as I need to polish something.

But still you're gonna keep seeing it because there are two famous Clintons, and I hope because there'll soon be two President Clintons. To me this is not so different from the way people refer to 'Teddy' and 'FDR' because there were two President Roosevelts (or two Presidents Roosevelt, depending on your grammatical inclinations). Using nicknames could normally be considered demeaning but where there's a genuine possibility of confusion we should give people the benefit of the doubt.

[pnwmom]

21. Only one Clinton is running against Trump.

It's different when we refer here, ,among friends, to Bernie and Hillary. But it's different when the press refers to Trump by his last name and Clinton by her first name.

The simple solution would be for them to call him Donald whenever they want to refer to her as Hillary. But when do you ever see them do that?

[thesquanderer]

14. Hillary promotes herself as Hillary. Trump promotes himself as Trump. Could it be as simple as that?

[zenabby]

20. Reading too much into it..

Hillary's campaign is all about Hillary, possibly because she wants to be a person everyone can relate to, and Clinton can cause confusion with President Clinton. In fact, Hillary is more her than Clinton - which she only took up to help Bill win the governorship since the chauvinistic people of Arkansas made a big deal about a first lady of Arkansas who had the gall to not change her name. So, Hillary is her signature.

Trump is all about Trump. That's his signature.

It's how the candidates have introduced themselves. We call people by how they introduce themselves, no conspiracy!