March 7, 2023

By Chuck Ardo

Just recently, Kellyanne Conway, who gave birth to the concept of “alternative facts” said on Fox News “I want you to ask yourself how many times you’ve been lied to, not just by this government, but how many times you were lied to by the people whose job it is to tell you the truth in the media. All in the service of ‘getting’ the president. Trump derangement syndrome is real” she said. Although Donald Trump’s loyalists claim the former president is the subject of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” whenever anyone tries to hold him accountable for his actions a second opinion is required. The irony of Conway using an appearance on Fox News to accuse the media of dishonesty,  only days after Fox News was exposed for allowing lies to be told on the network, shouldn’t distract from the utter falsehood of her claim.

From the Trump Administrations early days, when concerns were raised that Trump may have colluded with the Russians to win the 2016 election, Kentucky Republican Rand Paul called it “partisan politics” and said it is “the Trump derangement syndrome that motivates all of this.” However, the Russia investigation revealed “numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign” and   “established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.”  The Republican led Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed extensive evidence of contacts between the Trump campaign and people tied to the Kremlin. Certainly enough reason to raise concerns that the President of the United States had secret ties to one of this country’s adversaries and in no way an act of derangement.

After launching an impeachment inquiry following Trump’s call pressuring Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden by withholding $391 million in defense aid, Florida Congressman Rep. Matt Gaetz used a synonym by claiming “a bloodlust for the president” motivated the Democrats. But, as the Center for American Progress noted “Trump repeatedly broke the law in his efforts to pressure Ukraine to open investigations into his political rivals. The record is clear. Trump committed bribery. He committed honest services fraud. He likely engaged in a broader criminal conspiracy. He broke the law in withholding the military assistance to Ukraine. And then Trump obstructed Congress to cover up his crimes.”   Clearly, trying to hold Trump accountable for using his office to "solicit interference from a foreign country" to win the 2020 election was a matter of law not bloodlust.

Then, returning to the familiar, lawyers defending Trump for his role in the violent January 6th insurrection alleged that the effort to impeach and convict the former president was once again driven by "Trump Derangement Syndrome."  Only by ignoring the ample evidence that Donald Trump was heavily involved in every aspect of the effort to overturn a free and fair election, striking a blow to democracy itself, can such an outlandish claim be made. As former Congresswoman Liz Cheney said of the January 6th committee “the vast weight of evidence presented so far  has shown us that the central cause of January 6th was one man, Donald Trump, who many others followed. None of this would have happened without him. He was personally and substantially involved in all of it." So, impeaching Trump for instigating violent insurrection had nothing to do with "Trump Derangement Syndrome" and everything to do with protecting American democracy.

Donald Trump has been able to get not only his core supporters but the overwhelming majority of Republicans to accept the derangement diagnosis. But, the reality is that Trump lacks the moral core, commitment to the rule of law and dedication to democracy required of a President. Accusing those who point out Trump’s deficiencies of having “Trump Derangement Syndrome” is a reflection on their own shortcoming.