The comma is to prevent the type from being mis-read.
With no comma, some would think it said January 202017.
The better solution would have been to allow one additional space between the numbers; January 20 2017.
Or a slash separating all three words; January/20/2017.
Sometimes, a typesetter only gets one chance to make decisions before the product is out of your hands.
I know this from experience. I used to illustrate for news ads.
There should not have been a comma after President.
Noticed the missed space in date comma but I was referring to the comma after President.
The comma in the date is correct. There is no question that it’s correct.
“Sometimes, a typesetter only gets one chance to make decisions before the product is out of your hands. I know this from experience. I used to illustrate for news ads.”
I still do it. The comma on the date is fine. SOP. The comma after President, major pooch screw.
But what about the other comma, the one after "President" eh?
Poor English grammar, special meaning, or . . . what?
Not meaning to offend, but your comments re the punctuation are in error, as are the comments of several other responders. To start, there are five errors found in the inscription:
1st and 2nd errors -- Wherever a comma is used as a separator, it demands a following space. In both cases, where the comma occurs, its following space is absent.
3rd error -- There should be no comma between the words "President" and "Donald". In journalism or advertising, one would not write "Colonel,Richard Smith" or "Mayor,John Jones". Here, one does not write "President,Donald J. Trump. The comma sould not be present.
4th error -- On the other hand, one would not write "ColonelRichard Smith". Proper writing of a title preceding the name would insert a space between the title and the name, as in "Colonel Richard Smith" or "President Donald J. Trump". The space should be inserted.
5th error -- to a European mathemetician "20,2017" would represent what to an English-speaking means "20.2017" in the decimal system. The absence of the space is confusing. *****
Regarding the errors of other commenters:
o When the title refers to the Chief Magistrate of the United States, the word "President" is always, always capitalized, whether it is associated with a name or another title (i. e., "Mr. President"), or whenever it stands alone in a sentence. o The hat's inscription better and more elegantly phrased would be the line (which does use correct punctuation):
Donald J. Trump, President
o Making a pronouncement without checking the style book or giving an authoritative grammar reference is a faux pas, and could be offensive.
In the above cases, see the Grammar section of the "Webster's Third New International Dictionary (Unabridged)."
The comma is to prevent the type from being mis-read.
With no comma, some would think it said January 202017.
The better solution would have been to allow one additional space between the numbers; January 20 2017.
Or a slash separating all three words; January/20/2017.
Sometimes, a typesetter only gets one chance to make decisions before the product is out of your hands.
I know this from experience. I used to illustrate for news ads.
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You’re referring to the wrong comma. It’s the one after the word President that’s unnecessary.