First-Of-Its-Kind Poll Finds TDS Is Real, And It’s Shockingly Widespread

I got it, and I want it, and I want it to get worse. If I could take a pill that would help me hate that mother***er more and obsess on him more, I would take that pill. Maybe we can have a pharmacological intervention, I don’t know. – James Carville talking about Trump Derangement Syndrome.

James Carville’s completely unhinged rant about Trump Derangement Syndrome would land him in a psychiatric ward if the subject of his ire were anyone other than Donald Trump. Instead, he can take comfort knowing that he has plenty of company.

A new poll by TIPP – the polling partner of Issues & Insights – finds that Trump Derangement Syndrome is very real, very serious, and very widespread. It’s time to treat it as urgent mental health crisis.

Among the findings of this first-of-its-kind poll:

• More than a third of the public (38%) and more than half of Democrats (53%) say they themselves have experienced TDS, when it’s described as “unusually intense negative emotional reactions to Donald Trump.”
• 70% say they observed Trump-related emotional stress, anger, or agitation among people they know.
• 62% say they have seen people change their behavior because of strong negative feelings toward Trump.
• 41% know people who refuse to socialize with friends or family who support Trump.
• 37% have seen obsessive attention to Trump combined with anger toward his supporters.
• 22% say they have seen threats or aggressive or violent behavior tied to negative feelings about Trump.

(You can watch below the event at the National Press Club where the TIPP poll’s findings were discussed.)

But even those who can’t wait for Trump to be out of office should be deeply troubled by the poll’s findings.

Because, left untreated, TDS sufferers won’t suddenly be cured when Trump leaves the White House. Their obsession will just transfer to a new tormentor. You can already see this with the left’s bloodlust toward Elon Musk. And it’s a certainty that no matter who Republicans nominate to succeed Trump, he or she will be the next target of their derangement.

What’s more, TDS is an excuse for sufferers to get away with anything they want — including lying, cheating, and stealing to win elections — such as we are witnessing in Alaska.

For the left, this is good news. Because its goal isn’t to protect the nation from Trump, but to keep the public in a state of constant fear and agitation as it tears down the institutions that make America exceptional. (See: “Think Europe’s Chaos Can’t Happen Here? It’s Already Being Planned.”)

The longer the contagion goes unchecked, the greater the left’s chances of success. (The poll also found that 74% agree that “media coverage of Donald Trump contributes to negative emotional reactions among the public.”)

So, what’s to be done?

Dr. Carole Lieberman, a board-certified psychiatrist, has been trying for the past two years to get Trump Derangement Syndrome included in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) – the bible of the psychiatric profession. (You can read her proposal here.)

“Understanding the psychological roots of these intense reactions is therefore not merely a political question, but a mental health and societal concern,” she notes, adding that “recognition of a condition in the DSM can encourage greater research, awareness, diagnosis, and access to treatment.”

Given the left-wing bent of the American Psychiatric Association, the chances of having TDS recognized as a legitimate mental illness are exceedingly slim. But it’s a battle worth waging.

— Written by the I&I Editorial Board