Help For TDS Sufferers

There is currently a bill in the Minnesota Senate to make Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) a legitimate mental illness. Kudos to the Minnesota Senate for their pioneering effort, but it's actually something that should be done at the national level so TDS can be covered by insurance nationwide and the poor souls across the country who are afflicted with this debilitating malady can get some much needed help. I intend to do my part to make that happen and hope you will too.

The Minnesota bill defines TDS as an "acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction to the policies and presidencies of President Donald J. Trump.” However, the bill does not define the symptoms. We'll need symptoms for the national campaign so following are some I've observed with examples for clarity.

Symptom 1. Hypocrisy - Just prior to the 2016 election, when everyone and their brother was predicting that Hillary Clinton would win, all the liberal democrats could talk about was how we should all get behind the new President. For example, in Volume 08, Issue 11 of this publication, Lee Kamps wrote, “After the election is over, let us forget about campaigning and making political points....” But Clinton lost and ever since TDS sufferers like Kamps have been doing the exact opposite. The very definition of hypocrisy and the very first symptom of the emerging disorder.

Symptom 2. Lying - In two issues of this publication, including Volume 09, Issue 07, Kamps, like many TDS sufferers, said Trump called climate change a hoax. Not true. As Snopes said: “He (Trump) instead said that Democrats' criticism of his administration's response to it was a hoax.” In Volume 17, Issue 2, Kamps wrote, “the 2025 version (of the C-SPAN Presidential Survey) shows Donald Trump solidly ranked as dead last as the worst President of all at #45.” C-SPAN is not conducting their survey in 2025.

Symptom 3. McCarthyism - Derived from the smear campaign and hearings conducted by Joseph McCarthy, McCarthyism is the systematic use of innuendo and unfounded accusations to discredit someone. TDS sufferers like to call the McCarthy era the low point in the history of this country, but like many things they rail against, they believe it's okay for them to use it. (Because of their affliction, sufferers are unable to recognize that TDS has created a new low point.) In Volume 09, Issue 10 of this publication Kamps denigrated Trump based on: “There are allegations...” and “Someone I know who works in New York real estate told me....” In Volume 11, Issue 04 Kamps wrote that Trump “probably” bribed his way into the Wharton School of Business.

Symptom 4. Ignorance - TDS sufferers are incapable of understanding evidence that doesn't support their McCarthyism. For example, in Volume 17, Issue 2 of this publication, Kamps wrote, “One of the most comprehensive rankings of the Presidents is the quadrennial CSPAN ranking....” and used it as proof that Trump was a poor president. However, according to the C-SPAN website:

Four people created the survey for C-SPAN. They defined what they consider good leadership traits and send the survey to hundreds of people every four years asking them to score each president on a scale of 1 to 10 on how they exhibit each trait. In the 2021 survey that Kamps referenced, 142 people responded. The list of respondents appears to be mostly left wing professors. C-SPAN does not provide their definitions to the people they are asking to respond. They only provide the category title because they want respondents to “interpret them as they see fit.” For example, one of their categories is “managing the economy.” So, did the respondents score that category based on the leadership traits a president used while managing the economy as defined by C-SPAN? Or on how well the economy was actually managed? Or on something else? Your guess is as good as mine. In summary, the C-SPAN survey is nothing more than primarily left-wingers rating whatever pops into their minds from word association. When questioned about it in an interview that is on the C-SPAN website, one of the four creators of the survey said it is “very subjective depending on a person's philosophy, political and otherwise.” No kidding. Another said it is “not a scientific ranking, it's meant to be fun and enlightening” TDS sufferers think that means it is the “most comprehensive ranking.” If ignorance is bliss, TDS sufferers must be the happiest people on Earth.