Trump Derangement Syndrome

About

Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a mock mental disorder coined by supporters of the 45th President of the United States Donald Trump to describe his critics as irrational and unhinged.

Origin

On August 17th, 2015, The American Spectator^[3] published an article by writer Esther Goldberg titled "Trump Derangement Syndrome," which argued that establishment Republicans were suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome" during the 2016 Republican Presidential Primary.

Precursor

On December 5th, 2003, psychiatrist Charles Krauthammer coined the neologism "Bush Derangement Syndrome" in a column describing the extreme emotional criticisms of 43rd President of the United States George W. Bush.

"Bush Derangement Syndrome: the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency--nay--the very existence of George W. Bush"

Spread

On October 1st, 2015, the Washington Examiner^[4] published an op-ed by writer Stephen Meister titled "Trump Derangement Syndrome," which defined the mock disorder as "a hate-induced epidemic sweeping the nation's journalists." On March 18th, 2016, Urban Dictionary^[1] user CLWT submitted an entry for "Trump Derangement Syndrome," defining it is "a mental dysfunction causing those detractors with hateful thoughts and feelings about Donald Trump to go unhinged."

On December 27th, the Los Angeles Times^[2] published an op-ed titled "Do you suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome?" On December 29th, YouTuber Stefan Molyneux uploaded a video titled "Trump Derangement Syndrome – TRIGGERED!" (shown below).

On January 18th, Salon^[5] published an article titled "You have been warned: 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' will be a cudgel used to silence his critics." On April 16th, CNN broadcast a monologue by Fareed Zakaria about Trump Derangement Syndrome (shown below, left). On March 9th, the Rebel Media YouTube channel uploaded a video accusing The Daily Show host Trevor Noah of having "Trump Derangement Syndrome" (shown below, right).

The View Fight

On July 19th, 2018, The View host Whoopi Goldberg got into an argument with conservative author and Fox News Host Jeanine Pirro after the author accused Goldberg of having "Trump Derangement Syndrome." The accusation led to a shouting match between the two as Goldberg she was sick of hearing Trump describe Mexicans as liars and rapists while Pirro argued that "It's horrible… when people who shouldn’t be here end up murdering the children of American citizens.”

The story reignited debate about the term on Twitter, as Twitter users from both the left and right accused the other side of having the affliction (examples shown below).

Search Interest

External References