Never Forget: Trump Derangement Syndrome Is Literal
When I went back to Atlanta over the 2016 winter break, a certain family member, whom I won’t name out of respect, was distraught beyond reason. This person accused me of having cost Hillary Clinton -- a beloved, near-Godlike figure – the office that was rightly hers. “It’s your fault,” they told me.
Mind you, I had not voted for Trump nor had I publicly endorsed him in any way. This person’s rationale was that I listened to Alex Jones – despite the fact that I had not, actually, listened to Alex Jones at that point in time for many years – and therefore, by way of alchemy, had singlehandedly hoisted Trump into the White House because logic. It was so unhinged that I’m frankly amazed they didn’t accuse me right there in the kitchen of being a Putin asset.
Another individual, fully bought into the Russiagate narrative even so early on -- which Hillary Clinton promulgated as a means to explain her historic defeat at the hands of a game show host and real estate magnate who had never held public office -- informed me matter-of-factly that the Russians were taking over. This person recalled in breathless near-whisper how they had gone through nuclear holocaust drills during the Red Scare of the 50s in preparation for war with Russia, and that this was the new reality all over again.
And so on.
It was then that I realized something had really happened to these people psychologically, notwithstanding that the Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) phenomenon had not yet been identified by name.
Here is how CNN hack Fareed Zakaria described TDS in its early conception, back in 2017, via Washington Post:
Liberals have to avoid Trump Derangement Syndrome. If Trump pursues a policy, it cannot axiomatically be wrong, evil and dangerous. In my case, I have been pretty tough on Trump. I attacked almost every policy he proposed during the campaign. Just before the election, I called him a “cancer on American democracy” and urged voters to reject him. But they didn’t. He is now president. I believe that my job is to evaluate his policies impartially and explain why, in my view, they are wise or not.
Many of Trump’s campaign promises and policies are idiotic and unworkable. It was always likely that he would reverse them, as he has begun to do this week on several fronts. Those of us who opposed him face an important challenge. We have to ask ourselves, which would we rather see: Trump reversing himself or Trump relentlessly pursuing his campaign agenda? The first option would be good for the country and the world, though it might save Trump from an ignominious fall. The second would be a disaster for all. It raises the quandary: Do we want what’s better for America or what’s worse for Donald Trump?
The answer to Zakaria’s rhetorical question is the latter. TDS has only intensified since 2017, with corporate state news actors now regularly frothing at the mouth at the prospect of having him jailed on charges that are obviously politically motivated. Until the Israel-Gaza conflict erupted, in fact, TDS coverage constituted 90% of their on-air time.
Related: Trump Prosecutor Letitia James Leads Anti-White Hate Chant
The utility of periodic reminders that TDS is literally real is that we have another election coming up with Trump on the ballot. The afflicted people and institutions will stop at nothing to prevent Trump from retaking office.
This does not apply only to liberal sufferers of TDS, but is unfortunately a universal human trait: man is a tribal animal. Once the lizard brain has kicked in, and he has become what Jordan Peterson calls “ideologically possessed,” it becomes very difficult to reason him out of his convictions.
https://pjmedia.com/benbartee/2023/11/02/never-forget-trump-derangement-syndrome-is-literal-n4923542
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