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Has the Left Lost Their Minds Over Trump Derangement Syndrome?
By Irwin Coates. 24th March 2025
It’s been nearly a decade since Donald Trump first descended that golden escalator and turned American politics into a circus that never seems to strike its tent. For some, he’s a hero, a brash
outsider who shook up a stagnant system. For others, he’s a villain of cartoonish proportions, a threat to democracy itself. But as we sit here in 2025, with Trump back in the spotlight after another improbable political comeback, it’s worth asking: has the left’s obsession with him—often dubbed Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS)—pushed them past the point of reason? From voting patterns to social media meltdowns, protests, and even brushes with illegality, the evidence suggests a fixation that’s spiraled into something unhinged. Let’s unpack it—and consider what, if anything, can be done to rein it in.
Start with the ballot box. Since 2016, the left has turned every election into a referendum on Trump, even when he’s not on the ticket. Midterms, local races, primaries—doesn’t matter. If a candidate so much as breathed a whiff of MAGA, they were persona non grata. Take 2020: Joe Biden’s victory was less about enthusiasm for his platform (let’s be honest, “Build Back Better” didn’t exactly set pulses racing) and more about a visceral “anyone but Trump” impulse. Fast forward to 2024, and the pattern held. Trump’s return to the presidency didn’t just defy polls—it defied a left-wing voting bloc that seemed to believe their sheer outrage could will him out of existence. It’s not strategy; it’s obsession. When your entire political identity hinges on hating one man, you’re not voting with your head—you’re voting with your spleen.
Then there’s the online circus. Scroll through X or any platform where the left congregates, and you’ll see TDS in full bloom. The memes are relentless: Trump as a dictator, Trump as a clown, Trump as the harbinger of the apocalypse. One viral post from last month showed him photoshopped into a scene from The Handmaid’s Tale, captioned, “This is America now.” Hyperbole much? The replies are a cascade of all-caps rants and apocalyptic predictions, with barely a whisper of policy critique. It’s not discourse—it’s a primal scream. And the influencers egging it on? They’ve built careers on this stuff. Blue-check pundits churn out daily doses of “Trump’s the end of democracy” like it’s a mantra, racking up likes from followers who seem to thrive on the adrenaline of outrage. It’s less about informing and more about feeding a collective nervous breakdown.
The streets tell a similar story. Remember the Women’s March in 2017? It was a cathartic roar against Trump’s inauguration, and it set the tone. Since then, every Trump move—real or rumored—has sparked a protest. His 2024 victory? Cue the marches, the highway blockades, the chants of “Not my president!” Sure, protest is a right, but there’s a difference between dissent and tantrum. When activists chain themselves to fences outside Mar-a-Lago or disrupt public spaces with megaphones blasting “fascist,” it’s less about changing minds and more about venting spleen. Civil disobedience has morphed from a tactical tool into a lifestyle for some on the left—a way to signal moral superiority without actually engaging the other side. It’s theater, not progress.
And then there’s the line-crossing. Most TDS sufferers stick to yelling, but a few have veered into lawlessness. In 2020, we saw riots after George Floyd’s death that some leftists tied to Trump’s rhetoric, torching buildings and clashing with cops. Post-2024 election, there’ve been reports of vandalism—Trump signs defaced, campaign offices spray-painted with “Nazi” or worse. A viral X thread last week claimed a group in Portland smashed windows of a business owned by a known Trump donor. Is this justice or just rage with a zip code? The left loves to call out MAGA for January 6, but they’re not above their own chaos when the mood strikes. It’s not widespread, but it’s enough to raise eyebrows—and questions about where this obsession leads.
So, has the left lost their minds? The symptoms—reflexive voting, social media hysterics, protest-as-performance, and occasional crime—suggest a movement more unmoored than enlightened. But here’s the rub: you can’t legislate sanity. The First Amendment protects the right to scream about Trump till the cows come home, and even the dumbest memes are fair game. Protests? Same deal, unless they turn violent. The criminal stuff—vandalism, riots—already has laws on the books; enforce them consistently, no favoritism, and that’s a start.
The real solution, though, isn’t legal—it’s cultural. The left needs a hard look in the mirror. Leaders, influencers, everyday folks—someone’s got to say, “Enough.” Stop making Trump the boogeyman who defines your every move. Focus on ideas, not enemies. If the right can survive eight years of Obama without turning every election into Armageddon, the left can handle Trump without losing their grip. De-escalate the rhetoric, ditch the apocalyptic framing, and maybe—just maybe—talk to the other side instead of shouting them down. It’s not sexy, it’s not viral, but it’s lawful, it’s sane, and it might actually work.
Trump’s a lightning rod, no doubt. But the left’s reaction has become a self-inflicted wound, a cycle of fury that’s less about him and more about them. TDS isn’t just a catchy phrase—it’s a warning. Time to heed it.
