You do tend to get Downvoted when you say it.

Depending on the thread I think it's either people annoyed that they're seeing his name at all, and people who don't like seeing their guy getting criticized, but either way the result is the same. HN does generally swing much righter than the rest of the internet, too.

Perhaps the down votes were just because you called someone out for a perfectly fine phrasing? Referring to him differently wouldn't add any value.

If the poster has said "he-who-will-not-be-named", I'd be there right with you and say it was silly. But they just did not do that, that is something you have made happen in your head.

"former president" is perfectly fine. As is "last president", or "trump", or whatever. I think the point wasn't about the specific person who had said those things so much about general level of political discourse in US around this subject...