(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Trump Derangement Syndrome: types, symptoms, cure [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-14 One place Rare Old Bird’s column is published is on a local on-line site, The Ridgeview News. It is always prefaced with a disclaimer that the Bird’s opinions are not those of the publisher, but still, admirably I believe, they do publish it, although almost all of Calhoun County, WV is Trump-Republican, and I am that rare thing – a rural WV Democrat. The Bird regularly draws local responses and replies, mostly negative and with one constant refrain: the Bird suffers from TDS or Trump Derangement Syndrome. “TDS” is shorthand for Trump’s supporters to describe his detractors (me), calling us obsessed with maligning the former president. One who is obsessed is preoccupied with a subject. Checking my files, though, I find the Rare Bird has written about many subjects - and also Trump - his promise to be a dictator and his dangerous plans for a second term. So, the Bird is not obsessed, but she is consistent in criticizing Trump and has no good word to say for the man. Trump is dangerous because the presidency is his ultimate grift and he is a man without character or principles. There is an opposite form of Trump Derangement Syndrome, suffered by his followers who are obsessed, deranged and disoriented by Trump himself. Derangement is a state of mental disturbance and disorientation, madness, mania, or insanity. Something is off-kilter and unbalanced about their adulation of a criminal, an adulterer, a rapist, a con man – naming just the obvious flaws that would have destroyed any candidate for president ever in US history. Off-kilter, unbalanced, a bit deranged. He tells them “I don’t care about you. I only want your votes” and they say “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” This positive derangement is why the Trump base is often described as a cult. A cult leader must always be praised and can never be doubted. The most serious variety of Trump Derangement Syndrome is Trump’s Own Derangement Syndrome. “Derangement” is an old-fashioned word for various kinds of mental disturbance and mental illness. The words we use now include “dementia.” Trump shows types of cognitive impairment seen in dementia like ‘word salad’ (incoherence), ‘loose associations’ (a lack of connection between ideas), impairments of memory, and language problems (mis-pronouncing words or making up words that don’t exist). Disordered speech, typically seen in organically impaired dementia patients, is regularly heard at Trump rallies. What the press nicely calls “rambling,” mental health professionals call “tangential thinking” – drifting from one unrelated thought fragment to another – incoherence. “I could tell you about aircraft carriers, where they use electric catapults. They couldn’t go to the steam, which works better for about 1/100th the price, you know? The electric catapult, you know that story? I could tell you about the elevators on a tremendous carrier, the Gerald Ford, and they decided not to use hydraulic like the John Deere tractor, they decided to use magnets, ‘we’re gonna use magnets!’ to lift up the elevators with seven planes.” “I have broken more Elton John records, he seems to have a lot of records. And I, by the way, I don’t have a musical instrument. I don’t have a guitar or an organ. No organ. Elton has an organ. And lots of other people helping. No, we’ve broken a lot of records. We’ve broken virtually every record.” Recently we all heard about the (imaginary) electric boat that sinks because its (imaginary, non-marine) battery is too heavy and there’s a shark ten feet away: “But you know what I’d do if there was a shark or you get electrocuted? I’ll take electrocution every single time. I’m not getting near the shark. So we’re going to end that, we’re going to end it for boats, we’re going to end it for trucks.” Confusions about reality are a critical sign of dementia. “Biden beat Barack Hussein Obama. Ever heard of him?” Migrants are coming into the country “speaking languages nobody in this country has ever heard of. Nobody speaks them.” “We have to win in November, or we’re not going to have Pennsylvania. They’ll change the name. They’re going to change the name of Pennsylvania.” “Nikki Haley, you know they, do you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it, because of lots of things like Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guard, whatever they want. They turned it down.” (Confusing Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi and lying about Nancy Pelosi and January 6th.) Verbal abuse, cursing, and insults are common aggressive behaviors seen in dementia patients. Trump’s speeches and his plans grow progressively darker, more abusive and aggressive. He will round up 15 million immigrants and use the justice department to go after his political opponents. He will wreak vengeance and retribution on the Americans he sees as enemies: “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country. “ As with all demented rambling, an occasional bit of truth shines forth as when Trump bragged, “We’ve been waging an all-out war on American democracy.” There is a cure for TDS: Vote Biden/Harris and give them a Democratic Congress. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/14/2246700/-Trump-Derangement-Syndrome-types-symptoms-cure?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/