Who’s Really Deranged? Trump’s Favorite Insult Reveals More About its Author Than its Targets

The real “Trump Derangement Syndrome” is not found among his critics, but in the persistent denial of reality, normalization of falsehoods, and cult-like behavior surrounding the former president and his movement.

These are tumultuous times, even a time of war. Sorting truth from falsehood, fact from fiction, is a daily challenge. This is particularly true as we try to understand the actions and motivations of President Trump, his public spokespersons, and his MAGA supporters.

A constant theme of President Trump: all who criticize him suffer from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” The public debate would clearly benefit from a closer look at this so-called TDS, what derangement is, and who is really suffering from it. The President has offered his own definition, whose hypocrisy leaves heads scratching.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines derangement as ”the state of being completely unable to think clearly or behave in a controlled way, especially because of mental illness”. Webster’s listed synonyms include “instability, paranoia, dementia, and delusion.” These are strong words.

Let’s start with an irrefutable fact. There was no meaningful electoral fraud in the national elections of 2016, 2020, or 2024. The president and his representatives continue to assert electoral fraud despite his refusal at the October 19., 2016 debate with Clinton in Las Vegas to commit to accepting the results of the 2016 election, his administration’s clumsy effort and failure to document fraud via its Kobach Commission, and the 60 some court cases validating the Biden electoral victory in 2020. For Trump and his administration, “electoral fraud” continues even today as a foundational element of their relentless campaign to undercut public trust in our electoral process and institutions, while at the same time asserting non-existent “landslides” in the two presidential elections he won. This strategy is, of course, directly lifted from the authoritarian handbook: Lie, Lie in a big way; Repeat until people don’t question it.

You have to ask who is deranged in this circumstance. It is reasonable to conclude that those who assert non-existent electoral fraud are, as the synonyms go, paranoid or deluded. If President Trump is not, one is driven to conclude that his electoral fraud assertion is a cold and crass political strategy to manipulate unwitting voters, the kind that he had in mind when he confidently broadcast that “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and not lose any voters,” a line delivered to adoring laughter at an Iowa rally in January 2016.

And there is the White House social media effort, anchored by the disingenuously named Truth Social, the president’s personal social media platform that serves increasingly as the principal communications voice of the U.S. government. One has to ask who is deranged, paranoid, or deluded as one scrolls through “Truth” Social’s range of bizarre assertions, photos, and video clips, many screaming derangement, paranoia, and delusion.

Take, for example, the self-published picture of the President as Pope, put out on the White House twitter feed and the various “Truth Social” posts asserting that “He’s on a mission from God”, “I was saved to save the country”, and “Trump was Right about Everything,” the latter now a campaign slogan promoted via his signature red ball caps. Few posts are presidential in nature, none bolster his or the country’s prestige, and many assert his incredulous refrain “I alone can…. And there is the plethora of vitriolic attacks by the president on critics, business executives, perceived enemies, fellow “Republicans” and even foreign leaders with whom he needs to work to promote U.S. interests and security.

Beyond ominous has been Trump’s renaming and signature blitzkrieg, the Institute of Peace to the Trump Institute of Peace, the John F. Kennedy Center to the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center, TrumpRx, “Trump accounts” for US citizen newborns from 2025-2028, putting his picture on gold coins and National Park Service annual passes, calling the proposed next generation fighter the F-47 in honor of Trump 47 and new battleships “Trump class”, and having his signature on the US dollar. Equally odorous, there is the marketing and selling of “Trump Fragrances.” Again, this is evidence of a syndrome exhibited by all autocrats to reinforce the impression that they are “everywhere” and “everything.” ,

Many of the MAGA supporters with whom I have spoken over the years say they don’t follow the X or Truth Social posts, perhaps so that they can continue to support the president without the clutter of dealing with constant bewilderment over emanations from the White House.

What is the appropriate treatment for TDS?

A consequential MAGA defeat in the November midterm elections would be sound initial shock treatment to fight this disease. Or, given MAGA courtiers’ blind adherence to the Trump 47 cult, the most immediate treatment would be if a handful of Republican senators and representatives simply owned up and said what is on everyone’s mind, “what’s with this over-the-top MAGAlomania?” (Webster’s on megalomania: “a delusional mental illness that is marked by feelings of personal omnipotence and grandeur.”)

Alternatively a miraculous display of honest reckoning by a sycophantic cabinet via the 25th Amendment, offers a more definitive course of treatment.

In any case, years will be needed for full recovery.

America deserves a hard look at both TDS and the person who sadly brought it to us. And MAGA, it’s time to face the honest truth, social or otherwise.

Mike Mozur is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer with over 33 years of experience in the Soviet Union, former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Latin America. He also led a global professional association of environmental scientists and writes periodically on current political, economic, and social issues. He is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 400 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.