"The president and first lady appeared not to have followed long-running protocol in which a bow or curtsy is customary."

"Moreover, Mr. Trump seemed to walk in front of the queen, and not quite alongside her, prompting Twitter critics to call his motions awkward and even rude. Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s communications director, said Mrs. Trump was briefed on royal protocol before the visit, but it was unclear if the president, who eschews briefings, received similar guidance. In other ways, the Trumps avoided breaching protocol. Touching a royal can make headlines, as Michelle Obama did when she placed her hand on the queen’s back in 2009. Then there was the time, in 1977, when Jimmy Carter kissed the queen’s mother — on the lips, no less."

From "From Truman to Trump, Queen Elizabeth Has Met 12 U.S. Presidents," in which the NYT is actually quite mild toward Trump. I noticed, "Even for a monarch who has encountered her fair share of presidents, Mr. Trump is probably the most disruptive American leader she has met." Probably??? Who's the competition? Trump is also the most disruptive President including the ones QE has not met. He's Disruptiveness Personified.

Here's the video of the Queen's slapstick approach to walking with Trump:

This is hilarious. The Queen acting like she’s training one of her dogs as Trump struggles to master the art of walking. pic.twitter.com/M7tNwJFlOX

— SimonNRicketts (@SimonNRicketts) July 13, 2018

What the hell is she doing?! He's walking slowly and normally. She's being weird. I think it has to do with Scotland (the homeland of Trump's mother).

By the way, have you seen these intensely gorgeous new movie posters?

"This is Where Your Life Is: The Costumes of 'Brooklyn' and How They Tell The Film’s Story in Clothing."

An excellent analysis by Tom & Lorenzo, with lots of screen grabs from the movie, which I highly recommend and have blogged about a few times.

If you imagine it's well known that, of course, you have to be a citizen to vote, listen to Saoirse Ronan, completely innocent of knowledge.

She speaks of wanting to vote for Oprah, and Jimmy Kimmel breaks in with "Are you allowed to vote here in the United States?" Her "I don't know actually..." feels utterly disingenuous. "I'm not a resident here..." as if being a resident would be enough.

But she's a great actress and could easily play disingenuous.

In a similar vein, she is beautifully made up to look as though she is wearing absolutely no makeup.

By they way, I love her as an actress and I strongly encourage the no-makeup look. It's especially refreshing to see the absence of eye makeup.

IN THE COMMENTS: Amadeus 48 said:

According to Wikipedia, she was born in the Bronx (so she is a US citizen by birth), but the family moved back to Ireland when she was three.

Well, then, that makes all the difference. She is a citizen, and her question about residency is exactly the one I would ask.

ADDED: Now, I'm annoyed at the show for playing a cute little game, with Jimmy treating the actress as if she were an airhead and me, at home, getting drawn in. Saoirse could easily have said — at some point — "I am an American citizen." She seems to have chosen to leave us with the misimpression that she's dumb. The old dumb blonde of long Hollywood lineage?!

Or is it that she's playing her Irishness very heavily and doesn't want to be thought of as American?