The College Fix

TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome, is real and will explode if he wins again

I’ll admit it: Probably the main reason I want Donald Trump to win another term as president on Tuesday is so I can watch progressives melt down like they did in 2016.

Nothing would be more fitting for what they subjected the man to over the last eight years.

Liberal meltdown was bad enough eight years ago, but that was due to Trump being a big underdog who eeked out the win in the waning 48 hours. They were in shock.

The University of Pennsylvania created a “breathing space” for students troubled by the Trump win, complete with coloring books and craft-making, along with a puppy and some cats to cuddle.

Students at Cornell University held a “cry-in” regarding the outcome, with one student saying she was “quite terrified, honestly.”

Activists at fellow Ivies Yale, Brown, and Harvard had demanded their universities become “sanctuary” campuses for undocumented students because Trump had threatened to end the DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, program.

The University of Michigan Law School held a post-election event featuring “self-care activities such as coloring sheets, play dough, [and] positive card-making.”

And UCLA students got over 2016 “election blues” via playdates … with teddy bears.

“TDS,” or “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” is a real malady. I’ve personally seen it transform into raging lunatics those whom I thought were rational, reasonable people.

I didn’t lose too many friends and relatives in ’16 outside of a few who said stuff on social media like “You happy now? If you voted for Trump, please unfriend me immediately.” (And who was I not to oblige?)

The 2020 election, and especially the current one, have been magnitudes worse. A close high school and college friend for example, allegedly a Republican, recently posted a lengthy article about the alleged parallels between Trump and (you guessed it) Hitler.

Gee, who’s been hyping this sort of nonsense … ?

MORE: Academia wastes no time blaming Trump for New Zealand murders

Speaking of which, when I was noting the number of anti-Israel/pro-Hamas demonstrations on college campuses this past summer at a recent family gathering, a relative managed to tie in Trump to claim Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “worse than Hitler.”

Seriously. Of course, he couldn’t in any way substantiate the allegation, but I guess he felt good about himself for a few seconds.

This same family member (who had a cardboard cutout of Obama and Joe Biden at their front door during the 2012 election season) had chimed in during the ’16 election to declare GOP opposition to ObamaCare as “racist” — and that all Republicans are too.

When it was pointed out to him that yours truly is a registered Republican, he hesitated for a second or two, looked me in the eye, then said “I stand by what I said.”

The social media timeline of a former First State teachers’ union bigwig, a one-time acquaintance who had been a reasonable political centrist, has been chock full of MSNBC-style rumors, innuendo, and outright nonsense this entire election cycle. He more than once has said there will be family issues for relatives that vote for Trump.

How could one man, with whom most people didn’t have an issue prior to entering politics, make so many completely lose their marbles?

Personally, I never thought Trump would win the GOP primary in ’16, and I initially believed his candidacy to be a personal stunt. I’m not a fan of the man’s personality (while I appreciate his humor, his unnecessary insulting nicknames for everyone and ever-present arrogance drive me nuts), but anyone left with even an ounce of objectivity has to admit he latched onto something right-leaning voters and the average working person long had been waiting for: someone to call out the mainstream media and limousine politicians for their constant crapping on them.

No politician in my lifetime (and, I’d argue, ever) has endured the constant antagonism (including, most dangerously, the legal aspect) Mr. Trump has over the course of almost a decade. The fact that he’s in the position he is going into Tuesday is just further testament of how out of touch our alleged betters really are.

But they will remain steadfast in their denial. And that’s why a Trump victory on Tuesday will be so deliciously sweet.

MORE: Academics advocate a challenge to the 2016 presidential election vote

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