"[W]hen you make an argument like this, a certain type of person will immediately dismiss you with the term 'Trump Derangement Syndrome,' or TDS. ... This is obviously a lazy attempt at deflection—a phrase invoked to avoid having to think about evidence of Trump’s unfitness for office. ... You hear it from die-hard supporters and random people on the internet. But I think it is already distorting some of the press coverage of this election.
"Here is the problem. What Trump is saying and doing is so unhinged—for example, repeating wild stories that Haitian immigrants are eating dogs and cats—that if all you do is simply describe it, you are the one who sounds crazy.
"Trump says, for example, that he will use the military to jail his critics. ... * Or maybe Trump says he thinks we should suspend the Constitution ... ** Then your listener says, 'Oh, come on, you’re totally exaggerating. You’re suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.' But in dismissing you, your listener is moving himself farther away from an accurate grasp of reality. He is the one becoming—dare I say it?—deranged. ...
"Donald Trump has intuitively mastered the techniques of propaganda, which include the Big Lie ... and also the Incredible Truth: a fact so outrageous that people refuse to accept its reality. If ... t if you go way beyond that to do or say something completely insane, no one will believe you’re doing it—even as you do it right out in the open.
“Trump Derangement Syndrome” has its origins in 'Bush Derangement Syndrome,' which was used to describe the truly hyperbolic reaction on the far left to George W. Bush ... But what Trump realised is: What happens if you yourself embrace the hyperbole and go out and embody it? All the rules intended to keep political discussion productive by protecting against hyperbole then work to protect you—and to protect you precisely because you embraced the worst possible views.
"This is the fate that has been suffered by Godwin’s Law. ... you can talk about immigrants 'poisoning the blood' of the country and foreigners bringing in 'bad genes.' Have two of your chief supporters host and recommend an interview with an open Nazi apologist. Go onto a livestream with a guy who regularly hosts neo-Nazis. Talk about how you wish you had the kind of generals Hitler had. Refer to Nazis as very fine people. And then scream about how unfair it is when anyone points this out. ...
"The paradox of 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' is that the phrase is used only by the very people who are suffering from it."~ Robert Tracinski from his post 'The Anatomy of “Trump Derangement Syndrome”'* Trump: "I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they're the—and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military…. The worst people are the enemies from within, the sleaze bags, the guy that you’re going to elect to the Senate, shifty Adam Schiff."
** Trump: “A massive fraud of this type and magnitude [i.e., the election he actually lost] allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
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