Whether or not “Trump Derangement Syndrome” is a real thing has been debated since the presidential election, and it will no doubt continue to be discussed as long as President Trump is in office.
Though I would argue it can also apply to the Right and the president’s supporters, in the broadest and most used sense, Trump Derangement Syndrome refers to liberals and “Never Trump” neoconservatives who react or behave very differently under this president than they would if a more conventional Republican or Democrat occupied the White House.
He drives them bonkers.
Trump Derangement Syndrome might be helpful in understanding the recent misreported and misperceived fake news story that went viral surrounding the Covington Catholic High School teenagers. How was what really transpired between them, a Native American activist, and a group of black activists at the Lincoln Memorial over the weekend so taken out of context and misrepresented?
This is exactly what Whoopi Goldberg posited on “The View” Tuesday. After showing the original clip that made the students look like the aggressors, Goldberg introduced a second clip in which the crackpot group the Black Hebrew Israelites were seen mocking the students.
“Many people admitted they made snap judgments before these other facts came in,” Goldberg said. “But is it that we just instantly say that’s what it is based on what we see in that moment and then have to walk stuff back when it turns out we’re wrong?”
“Why is that? Why do we keep making the same mistake?” Goldberg asked.
That’s when Joy Behar jumped in: “Because we’re desperate to get Trump out of office. That’s why.”
Trying to stay on the subject at hand, a confused Goldberg asked, “What does that have to do…?”
That’s where Behar interrupted Goldberg and unintentionally explained that Trump Derangement Syndrome exists and how it happens.
“I think that’s the reason,” Behar said, referring to how this fake news story occurred. “I think the press jumps the gun a lot because we just, we have so much circumstantial evidence against this guy that we basically are hoping that Cohen’s got the goods and what have you. And so it’s wishful thinking.”
Goldberg wanted to bring it back to the Covington students: “Right, but let’s talk about the kids in this particular confrontation since that’s the question at hand.” The audience laughed because Goldberg wasn’t wrong. The discussion was about this controversy, not how people felt about Trump.
Still, Behar wasn’t wrong either. This liberal television host basically said that reporters and the Left jumped to incorrect conclusions due to high-running emotions stemming from anti-Trump bias.
You will be hard pressed to find a more succinct and accurate description of Trump Derangement Syndrome than this.
Libertarian writer and editorial director of Antiwar.com, Justin Raimondo, wrote a column for the Los Angeles Times in 2016 that sought to break down Trump Derangement Syndrome. He noted that “as TDS progresses, the afflicted lose the ability to distinguish fantasy from reality.”
On Monday, I explained how too many observers of this controversy were allowing their political faith to dictate facts. For many liberals, the facts in this case were based less on the full video evidence and more on what liberals yearned to believe about these Christian high schoolers.
Even with all the contextual evidence of longer videos clearly showing these kids weren’t the instigators, too many Americans still can’t see anything other than a pack of racist teenagers.
Despite some liberals apologizing for their rush to judgment, many on the Left simply care more about hating these kids than they do about facts.
They’re seeing what they want to see. Because Trump.
Joy Behar agrees.
Jack Hunter (@jackhunter74) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is the former political editor of Rare.us and co-authored the 2011 book The Tea Party Goes to Washington with Sen. Rand Paul.
