Trump Derangement Syndrome | A Double Edged Sword

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Trump Derangement Syndrome | A Double Edged Sword

Okay folks there’s a mental impairment out there that we need to bring out into the open and talk about, like adults. No it’s not depression, and no it’s not bipolar disorder. We need to talk about TDS, aka Trump Derangement Syndrome. It is a relatively new ailment that started to pop up in early 2016, and by November of 2016, it was a full blown epidemic. Talking openly about it lets us define it, talk symptoms, and a cure.

Defining Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS)

According to the DSM V (not really, but it would be funny if it was actually in there) there are two forms of TDS, Progressive Liberal TDS and the lesser acknowledged Conservative MAGA TDS. We’ll start with the more well known Progressive Liberal TDS and it’s symptoms.

Progressive Liberal TDS typically consists of a great deal of screaming at the internet in all caps, marching in the streets, yelling at other people in the street, frequently using words like resist, resistance, and racist. Can at times become enraged by logic and facts at which time they will resort to name calling and foul language. The brain impairment comes in all races, genders, and age groups, but is centered in those under 40 with progressive liberal leanings, that give unfettered support to people of color and the LGBTQ community, and will fight to the death for legal or illegal immigrants. Typically those with PLTDS are not well versed in sports, but they do support NFL players right to kneel and most just purchased stock in Nike along with a new pair of Air Max 90’s. You likely won’t know a person to suffer with this just by looking at them, but after about a brief perusing of their social media profiles, you’ll know.

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Meme of a triggered feminist that the author finds hilarious

Typically the main trigger for PLTDS is Donald Trump himself. Whether he speaks, tweets, or appears anywhere in their line of sight, people that suffer from PLTDS will have deeply visceral reaction. In fact there are cases where they react so viscerally that Trump could say or do something that benefits them and they immediately denounce it as fiction, impossible, racist, demonic, and against all principals of physics and science. When they react, they really react, beware. Bill Maher of the “Real Time with Bill Maher” show on HBO said he’d be willing to see the government collapse to get rid of Trump. “I feel like the bottom has to fall out at some point, and by the way, I’m hoping for it because I think one way you get rid of Trump is a crashing economy,” Maher said during the June 8 show. “So please, bring on the recession. Sorry if that hurts people but it’s either root for a recession, or you lose your democracy.” What’s interesting about that statement is that Maher himself has a multi-million dollar deal with HBO… Chelsea Handler, comedian and former talk show host literally blamed Trump for the California wildfires in a tweet.

PLTDS is not limited to celebrities, there are plenty of everyday civilians who tweet things like this, note the all caps.

Conservative MAGA TDS while just as visible as PLTDS has received less attention in the political mental health community (this isn’t a thing, but maybe it should be) and may not be as defined by those who have encountered it to this point. One of the fastest ways to identify someone with CMTDS is to look for something that says or listen for some iteration of the phrases “Make America Great Again”, “MAGA”, or “build the wall”. Typically this affliction impacts a more narrowed demography of people but it is not exclusive to this demographic. Studies show that your standard sufferer of CMTDS is a white male over 40, but again it strikes women, blacks, latinos, and even those in the LGBTQ community (these are the rarest cases). What is astounding about CMTDS is the absolute blind faith that those who suffer from it have towards Donald Trump specifically. Their willingness to ignore or justify questionable behavior, statements, and policy decisions is uncanny. It presents much like an addiction to a narcotic, but instead of buying it on a street corner they can go to twitter nearly every morning and get their fix. They frequently use the term “Fake News” to discredit things they hear in the media that they don’t like or that don’t agree with their narrative, and have no problem using “alternative facts” to make an argument. They will call you a snowflake liberal if you ask them to speak into the microphone when ordering at McDonalds, and will most certainly tell you to follow the rules or move to Canada if you express your displeasure with getting a speeding ticket.

Chances are you will not catch many CMTDS sufferers watching an NFL game, rooting for Lebron James, owning a Keurig, or wearing Nike. You may also see them screaming furiously at their computer screens as they check Nike stock day after day.

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Nike stock hits a record high after Kaepernick Controversy.

CMTDS are relatively harmless, but because many of them are willing to vote for and support policies against their own interest, one has to worry if they are not a danger to themselves. They will often begin to protest and boycott things for principled reasons, but will proceed to destroy their own possessions to show their displeasure with those they are boycotting. This often raises the question of how deeply TDS impacts their ability to think logically when they begin damaging their own possessions in fits of misplaced rage.

The concern in the tweet above was the safety of an unsuspecting person walking under the falling Keurig, but fortunately no one was injured in this display of severe CMTDS. Other sufferers took the destruction of their own personal property even further when they began burning their own shoes over a Nike commercial.

So we know what TDS is, we know what it looks like, how do we cure it? Honestly the cure will require extreme measures that many have not shown a willingness to explore. The solution is daring, and while it isn’t new, it would require many people to do the ultimate taboo and admit they don’t have all the answers. I know its appalling to wish such pain upon so many people but it’s really the only way we can cure this rapidly spreading disease. If you’re a liberal that believes that we should have free college, free healthcare, and all kids should spend a semester as a different gender than they are born with, you may need to come to the table with only one of those and a feasible way to pay for it (and it probably shouldn’t be the gender thing). If you’re a conservative at some point you have to acknowledge that saying “what about Chicago” when a police officer murders a black man in cold blood right in front of your face isn’t an argument. If you’re a liberal that firmly believes in climate change you may need to come around on the idea that the Paris climate accords were a bad deal for the United States and that deal didn’t hold the biggest polluter on the planet accountable which is China. In the same line of thought conservatives can’t continue to deny climate change, or continue to ignore that the Trump administration is dismantling the EPA which could have incredibly dangerous implications for inner city areas and everyone’s clean water.

We don’t need to agree on every point or all have the same frame of thought on every issue, but we do need civil discourse. We cannot continue down the path of “either you’re with me or against me, and if you’re against me you should burn in hell with a gasoline tuxedo”. At some point we have to get back to objectivity and trusting the truth. We don’t have to blindly follow any particular person, media outlet, or source, but we have to get back to recognizing facts. We have to get back to recognizing that if a person doesn’t agree with us they don’t want us to die. We have to remember that multiple things can be true at the same time, we can have a problem with policing in this country and still love this country. We can be fiscally conservative and not be a KKK card carrying racist.

I doubt the wounds that have been created the last few years will heal anytime soon, but I do have hope that we’ll be able to come together as a nation some time in the future. Of course like we learned in “Independence Day” the movie with Will Smith, maybe we just need a bunch of aliens to come down and kick our ass and maybe then we can put our difference aside and figure that out.

Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.

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