A Case Study In Stage 4 Trump Derangement Syndrome

Our epidemic of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) does not appear to be abating, and Big Pharma hasn’t developed an mRNA vaccine for it yet. Those employed in government, academia, media, and medicine seem to be at highest risk.

Robert Reich is a case in point. He was Bill Clinton’s secretary of labor, and he’s currently a professor of public policy at Berkeley — giving him two TDS risk factors. He recently published an article in The Guardian entitled “Here are 10 new year resolutions for saving American democracy.” It illustrates the devastating effects of TDS. Without getting into the whole “we’re a republic, not a democracy” debate, let’s examine what Reich considers the most critical actions for Americans to take — followed by my humble commentary.

1. “Become a political activist to ensure Trump is not elected.”

Because we will not be a self-governed country if we choose the wrong person. Consult the Colorado Supreme Court for a list of democratically approved candidates.

2. “Do not succumb to the tempting anesthesia of complacency or cynicism. The stakes are too high.”

See number 1 above, and note that Donald Trump is up in the polls. Don’t sit out the next election no matter how depressing it is to vote for the incompetent, demented old guy in the Oval Office.

3. “Counter lies with truth.”

If you’re confused about which is which, anything said by a person in a red hat is a lie, and anything said by Adam Schiff is the truth. When in doubt, check your DNC talking points pamphlet.

4. “Do not tolerate bigotry and hate.”

The only DNC-approved targets of hate are Donald Trump, his followers, pro-life activists, supporters of Israel, and those insisting that man/woman is a science thing.

5. “Do not resort to name-calling, bullying, intimidation, violence or any of the other tactics that Trump followers may be using.”

The only poll-tested and approved pejorative is semi-fascist MAGA Republican extremist. If you insist on doing violence, be smart, and do it in a blue jurisdiction, where a Soros prosecutor can run interference.

6. “Be compassionate toward hardcore followers of Trump, but be firm in your opposition.”

Reich suggests that rational Americans not waste their time on the closed-minded masses of MAGA. Unlike himself, we’re terminally stupid. He suggests that everyone have a fulfilling debate of competing ideas in the liberal echo chamber.

7. “Don’t waste your time and energy commiserating with people who already agree with you.”

It’s a waste of time and energy complaining about constants in the universe. Yes, he tells his readers, Trump is awful, but he’ll still be awful tomorrow. Similarly, don’t waste time complaining that Biden has failed to live up to expectations. If Biden’s failures give you a sour stomach, you’re going to have acid reflux for the next year. Take some Pepto and deal with it.

8. “Don’t decide to sit this election out or to vote for a third-party candidate, because you don’t especially like Biden and you’re tired of voting for the ‘lesser of two evils.’”

Then Reich really said this: “Biden may not be perfect, but he’s not the lesser of two evils.” I had to read it three times, but that’s what he really said. Robert Reich is giving the useful idiots of the left permission to vote for the greater of two evils, to prevent Trump from slowing our dash toward socialist nirvana.

9. “Demonstrate, but don’t mistake demonstrating for political action.”

Organize and mobilize to get the vote out (i.e., collect all the cemetery ballots) and save democracy by defeating Trump. After the election, you can organize and mobilize to burn the cities down “mostly peacefully.”

10. “Don’t get distracted by the latest sensationalist post or story by or about Trump.”

Don’t be distracted by facts, no matter how eye-opening they are. The next election is critical to America’s transition from the “land of the free” to Northern Cuba. Keep your eyes closed, ignore reality, and stay laser-focused on your mission: to defeat Trump.

So, with

• the world approaching WWIII;

• political polarization tearing America apart;

• fiscal policies making economic collapse inevitable;

• institutions charged with protecting our Constitution instead destroying it;

• crime turning our cities into a year-round rerun of The Purge;

• a president taking bribes from China, Ukraine, and Russia;

• Congress stuffing its pockets via insider trading;

• homelessness and drug addiction making our sidewalks look like a scene from The Walking Dead; and

• South America trying to move into North America for the free housing and medical care,

Robert Reich considers our biggest threat…Donald Trump.

TDS is quite real. The Donald has caused otherwise intelligent people to go bat-crap crazy. The syndrome is a weird mash-up of obsessive-compulsive disorder and delusional paranoia. The afflicted have a warped perception of reality in which Donald Trump is a supernatural being — visiting calamity on the Earth with mean tweets and a stern gaze. I can imagine Reich sitting in his office at Berkeley writing his article, while twirling a couple of ball bearings in his hand, and mumbling about Trump stealing the strawberries.

Let’s compare Reich’s ten suggestions to mine. You can judge who’s saner.

1. Veto any bill raising the national debt — to stop economic suicide before it’s too late.

2. Finish the border wall — because there’s nothing compassionate about facilitating human-trafficking.

3. Push legislation empowering the states and individuals to hold the federal government accountable — since the feds won’t police themselves.

4. Pull all funding to sponsors of international conflict — which shouldn’t even need to be stated.

5. Make congressional insider trading illegal — remind them that they work for us.

6. Deny bailouts to private companies and local governments — accountability counters bad decision-making.

7. Drill, baby, drill — for economic prosperity and national security.

8. Outlaw public employee unions — to stop them from funding politicians who give them sweetheart contracts with our money.

9. Pass legislation requiring that strategic products be manufactured domestically — because they’re currently made in countries that would like to colonize us.

10. Cancel all government subsidies of technology and research — because the picking of winners and losers has created only losers and bigger losers.

Which a saner recommendations to preserve our “democracy”: my “stop committing national suicide,” or Reich’s “stop Donald Trump”?

After reading Reich’s article, I was left with the impression that TDS destroys imagination. As the world approaches 21st-century Armageddon, his primary concern is the orange boogeyman that visits him in his nightmares. That it creates such a blindness to the threats facing America illustrates the danger of TDS.