Opinion

Trump Derangement Syndrome In Full View

Timothy Philen Freelance writer
Font Size:

The left-leaning news media was in full Orwellian doublespeak mode last Wednesday morning, declaring the failure of Democrat Jon Ossoff to avoid a runoff against Republican Karen Handel for Georgia’s sixth congressional district a “tea party” victory for liberals, an “earthquake” and a “wake-up” call for the GOP — which had evidently been teetering on the brink of collapse following the Democrats’ impressive congressional seat loss in Kansas just a few days earlier.

Watching the Stephanie Ruhles and Mika Brzezinskis of the cable news world try to spin these two losses as harbingers of an anti-conservative wave sweeping the country was priceless.

Even Fareed Zakaria, an unflinching liberal and Obama apologist, has warned that “Trump Derangement Syndrome” —  an irrational opposition to any and all of his presidential actions, regardless of their merits — is proliferating in progressive circles, happening, he implies, to the detriment of the good name of Democrats and the good chances they might otherwise have in the 2018 mid-term elections.

Will liberals get the message?

If Hillary Clinton’s recent public assessment of the reasons why she lost is any indication, probably not. Coming out of her five-month interview hibernation, Clinton appeared at the annual Women in the World Summit in early April and insisted to moderator Nicholas Kristof that her failure to win the presidency was purely and simply the result of forces beyond her control: the Russian government’s meddling in the election, the US government’s meddling in the election, WikiLeaks’ meddling in the election and, of course, the misogyny that is still rampant in America.

As for a confession of personal responsibility for her loss? You don’t have to be a Catholic cleric to know that Clinton’s begrudging admission that “there WERE things I could have done better” does not constitute a confession, or even a rational assessment of 2016 election results.

There is one new and quite rational assessment, however: an expose by Jonathan Allen and Arnie Parnes entitled  “Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign.”

For the first time, we see a private Hillary quickly pivoting from her gracious concession speech on November 9th to blaming everyone from the FBI to the KGB to the KKK — and even President Obama himself — for her defeat.

We also see campaign chairman Jon Podesta and manager Robby Mook, who, compared to the shoestringers in the Trump operation, had all the money, organization, and political skill in the world at their disposal, not to mention an army of advocates in the liberal news media.

What they also had, however, was the herculean hubris to take for granted voters in key rust belt states, despite the protestations of party elders. In the decisive days of the campaign they abandoned those traditionally Democratic strongholds and poured excessive amounts of time and energy — and millions of dollars — into a fool’s errand to expand the blue map in states like North Carolina and Arizona.

Of course, to hear Podesta, Mook or Clinton as they make the rounds this Spring, their loss was — and always will be — about Putin, Comey, Assange and their Misogynist-in-Chief, President Trump. Period.

That’s because Democrats have now turned denial into dogma. They cannot get over the fact that they’ve been politically outsmarted for much of the past six years — on a congressional, presidential, and even state legislative level — by a party that they have always held in intellectual contempt.

Now, with the Democrats’ loss of all three branches of government complete, their powerlessness is fomenting a rage that is bringing Clintonites, Bernieites, Hollywood elites and news media leftists together in an all-out attempt to destroy the Trump presidency.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow’s “tax revelation” stunt, which backfired spectacularly, is a perfect example.

She got hold of a copy of President Trump’s 2005 tax return and spent all day hyping the “exclusive story” to be revealed on her show that evening. Unfortunately for her, the return showed that the president not only paid $38 million in taxes that year, but also paid a higher percentage of federal tax than Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, and even Maddow’s parent company, Comcast.

Still, this did nothing to deter tens of thousands of Trump haters from gathering in cities across America on April 15 to demand to see Trump’s other tax returns, hoping against hope that those might be different.

It’s clear that the left is becoming insanely vigilant and virulent. They’re not only taking to the streets, they’re beginning to take the lead in cable news viewership, which MSNBC or CNN could soon dominate for the first time, thanks to the departure of Fox News’ two stars, Megyn Kelly and Bill O’Reilly.

And that’s okay.

While Democrats are straightjacketed by “Trump Derangement Syndrome” — pretending that presidential successes like Neil Gorsuch’s ascension to the Supreme Court and regulation rollbacks aren’t really happening — Republicans will be free to do what they were elected and appointed to do: debate in their caucuses, refine and pass legislation, overturn Obama-era executive orders, and judge countercultural statutes unconstitutional.

It’s “Trump Rearrangement Syndrome,” and Democrats have no one to blame but themselves.

Timothy Philen is the author of Harper & Row/Lippincott’s “You CAN Run Away From It!” a satirical indictment of pop psychology.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel