Althouse: "We’re told by many wise and well-meaning people that it is a huge and even fatal mistake for liberals (and for constitutional conservatives) to respond negatively to every Trump initiative, every Trump policy, and every Trump idea."

April 21, 2017

"We’re told by many wise and well-meaning people that it is a huge and even fatal mistake for liberals (and for constitutional conservatives) to respond negatively to every Trump initiative, every Trump policy, and every Trump idea."

Adam Gopnik considers the possibility that Trump Derangement Syndrome "is a thing" and that perhaps he's got it and should do something about it.

37 comments:

eric said...: The media is infected and there is only one cure.

Elect Democrats.; 4/21/17, 8:11 PM
n.n said...: Projection from the self-proclaimed "center", who, apparently, sincerely like the status quo and its progress.; 4/21/17, 8:17 PM
Balfegor said...: I don't think the problem is that they respond negatively every time. I think their problem is that they respond negatively without thinking -- it's pure reptilian instinct on their part, and it makes them look like fools over and over. That's why we have had, ah "fake news" about how the Martin Luther King Jr. bust was being removed from the Oval Office (Nope) or how so many fewer footballers showed up at the White House for Trump vs. Obama (or something like that). These are small, silly things, but these journalists make reflexive, obvious mistakes with small things because they hate him so so much. And we can all tell. Whether they realise it or not, it's destroying their credibility on the big things. Trump hasn't baited them into completely torching their credibility on the pyre of their mindless, slavering hatred, but unless they can develop a bit of self-awareness, they're going to . . .

Okay, I can't find a fitting metaphor. Nothing that goes with "pyre" and "torch" . . . They're going to crash this plane into the ground.

There.; 4/21/17, 8:21 PM
traditionalguy said...: Uh, oh. The insane lib media commentators are waking up to their addiction. They actually believe that their talking power to truth is an unbeatable super power.

And DJT just tweets out more Krytonite. And their powers get weaker and weaker; 4/21/17, 8:24 PM
Chuck said...: Adam Gopnik can do a fine job of speaking for liberals. He can do that, from rich experience.

He doesn't know the first thing about what he calls "constitutional conservatives," which is a phrase I have heard very seldom. (One person locally who used it was trial lawyer and horribly failed Michigan gubernatorial candidate for the Democrats, Geoffrey Fieger. Fieger, who was Jack Kevorkian's attorney, called himself a "constitutional conservative" when he was running a Trump-like "outsider" candidacy for the Dems. Rest assured, Fieger is nothing but a trial lawyer Democrat, which makes him a purebred Democrat, par excellence.)

"Movement conservative" is the term I hear used in place of what Gopnik seems to have meant. Movement conservatives like George Will, Steve Hayes, Victor Davis Hanson, Ted Cruz, Jim Jordan, Jonah Goldberg, Mike Pence, Dick Cheney, Tucker Carlson.

And with Movement conservatives, I think it is utterly false to suggest that they all respond negatively to every Trump initiative, every Trump policy, and every Trump idea. It's just not true. Think of the cheers that Trump got, from Movement conservatives, for his speech to the Joint Session of Congress in January. And the cheers (and lockstep support) he got in the matter of the Gorsuch confirmation. (Which was, as George Will has pointed out, something of a layup but nevermind.) Trump has been getting solid and unbending support -- moral support as well -- for his cabinet nominees. When there have been little blips like Murkowski and Collins opposing Betsy DeVos, other Republicans faithfully closed ranks and held the line.

There is of course, plenty of personal loathing and disrespect of Trump among Movement conservatives. But it is just untrue to say that they oppose everything that Trump has done. And they won't oppose everything Trump does.

So while I am fully on-board with "Trump Derangement Syndrome" as useful diagnostic, it doesn't apply to the conservatives that Adam Gopnik is so ill-equipped to analyze.; 4/21/17, 8:30 PM
buwaya said...: The whole thing is an orchestrated media campaign. This is a centrally directed system. Gopnik, and anyone else on that side pretending to centrism, is simply being disingenuous. If he does more than token worrying he will be out of work and his career will be over, and I am sure he knows that.; 4/21/17, 8:44 PM
Big Mike said...: Our problem is not Trump Derangement Syndrome; our problem is Deranged Trump Self-Delusion.

No, Adam, it's not Trump who's self-deluded.; 4/21/17, 8:50 PM
chickelit said...: 'Vowel movement conservative' is the term I hear used in place of what Gopnik seems to have meant. Vowel movement conservatives like George Will, Steve Hayes, Victor Davis Hanson, Ted Cruz, Jim Jordan, Jonah Goldberg, Mike Pence, Dick Cheney, Tucker Carlson.

FTFY; 4/21/17, 9:00 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Trump Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, and many Leftists are afflicted with it.

This makes me happy though. "Confusion to our enemies" is an important toast to make at bars.; 4/21/17, 9:02 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "Okay, I can't find a fitting metaphor."

That's okay, we know you aren't the sharpest tool in the Happy Meal.; 4/21/17, 9:11 PM
Chuck said...: chickelit said...
'Vowel movement conservative' is the term I hear used in place of what Gopnik seems to have meant. Vowel movement conservatives like George Will, Steve Hayes, Victor Davis Hanson, Ted Cruz, Jim Jordan, Jonah Goldberg, Mike Pence, Dick Cheney, Tucker Carlson.

FTFY

I put Mike Pence's name in that list just to fuck you up.; 4/21/17, 9:14 PM
khesanh0802 said...: Wow! I sort of sped read the article , but if that is not one of the best examples of Trump Derangement Syndrome it has to be in the top 5. Gopnik has been writing in the New Yorker since 1986 so you have to assume he's an adult, but this piece sure doesn't display any more maturity than a seventh grader. These people really need to get out of NYC.; 4/21/17, 9:19 PM
wildswan said...: Some are urging Dems to "get a grip". But Adam Gopnik endeavors to round up the straying cattle who are showing dangerous signs of independent thought just at the moment when the Dems want to roll out Chelsea Clinton as savior. Those completely in the grip of TDS will see Chelsea as a political leader - it will be form of mad cow disease where TDS eats away brain cells till you become so fogged that you end up thinking Chelsea Clinton is clever, feisty and has 1.5 million real followers on Twitter.

But if you can't make sense of Trump, here's a way to understand him and to avoid worshipping Chelsea in a few years. Trump was in construction (building hotels and so on) which used to be the #1 US employer until 2008; it is now #12. So he was aware of the difficulties in an economic group which NYT-Wapo disregards. In the same years, manufacturing slipped from #2 to #8 and this was the climax of a long decline caused by shipping jobs overseas through trade deals. Trump did more than notice these problems; he ran for President on the promise of doing something about these situations. The affected groups voted for him in enormous numbers, especially in the upper Midwest. And now as President, Trump is working to fulfill his promise to act on the problems, to help the American workers. And the Dems are not able, are just not able to acknowledge that they turned their backs on the American worker because, in the Dems' own value system, turning on the worker would be wrong. And so then the Dems aren't able to see that Trump ran on a promise - to help the American worker - a promise he is working to fulfill. He has gotten 35,000 jobs back in coal country. And he has reduced immigration which means more jobs for those in the country. And he has protected fracking and authorized pipelines because cheap energy will lead to more manufacturing and more jobs. And he's told Mnuchin to overhaul the tax system. And he's urging companies and companies to commit capital to US manufacturing which will be a better deal with tax reform and cheap energy. It all hangs together.

It all hangs together - unless you hate the American worker but can't bring yourself to say so even to yourself in secret. Then you have TDS which really means you can't let yourself know what you think or what is happening in an important political arena, i.e., you hate the workers; Trump doesn't. And there is worse to come. If you don't overcome your TDS, you will end up supporting Chelsea Clinton and thinking that's smart.

But far be it from me to criticize or judge. Long Live Chelsea the Ffeisty? Be my guest.; 4/21/17, 9:23 PM
David said...: We could get a vaccine quickly if Trump would reform the FDA.; 4/21/17, 9:27 PM
Birches said...: Chuck, that was a good comment.

Some advice for anyone worried about TDS: if your comment sounds like it might have been written by Louise Mensch or Evan McMullin, you have TDS.; 4/21/17, 9:27 PM
Birches said...: That article was bonkers. I couldn't finish it.; 4/21/17, 9:30 PM
David said...: eric said...
The media is infected and there is only one cure.

As Yoda would say, "No, there is another."

But up several media outlets. Clean house. Sort of Fox News under the under Murdochs, but in reverse.; 4/21/17, 9:31 PM
YoungHegelian said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/21/17, 9:38 PM
YoungHegelian said...: The problem with the liberal chatterati like Gopnik isn't just their reflexive distrust of Trump, it's also their naive & child-like faith in the standard bearers of their side. If the new book on the Hillary campaign shows anything, it's that, as one far-lefty friend of mine put it, "she had more baggage than the Titanic". The campaign was fucked-up. Hillary's coterie was fucked-up. Gopnik & his crew knew that these people were fucked up, but they deliberately hid this information so as not to give the Republicans ammo.

The same with the Obama administration. I'm sure that once the historical dust settles, the Obama years will be seen as the nadir of government malfeasance, up there with the Grant administration. Where was Gopnik & his crew? On their knees performing unnatural acts to the powers that were, that's where.; 4/21/17, 9:40 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/21/17, 10:08 PM
Roy Lofquist said...: Praise be to Nero's Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
Everybody's shouting
"Which side are you on?"
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain's tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row.; 4/21/17, 10:19 PM
chickelit said...: @Roy Lofquist: Praise be unto Bob.; 4/21/17, 10:21 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: If you think you have TDS, you probably don't.; 4/21/17, 10:31 PM
chickelit said...: Lem wrote: If you think you have TDS, you probably don't.

Is TDS contagious? Are people infected? Which demographic is most at risk?; 4/21/17, 10:42 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Is TDS contagious? Are people infected? Which demographic is most at risk?

You have to get them talking, if you hear/see words like #resistance there is 50/50 chance they've succumb to the illness.

Rachel Maddow saying Venezuelans were protesting Maduro's donation to Trump's inauguration is a particularly comical symptom of the airborne disease. It's marvelously unpredictable.

You should not burst out laughing when confronting sufferers.; 4/21/17, 10:55 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Blogger YoungHegelian said...
The problem with the liberal chatterati like Gopnik isn't just their reflexive distrust of Trump, it's also their naive & child-like faith in the standard bearers of their side. If the new book on the Hillary campaign shows anything, it's that, as one far-lefty friend of mine put it, "she had more baggage than the Titanic". The campaign was fucked-up. Hillary's coterie was fucked-up. Gopnik & his crew knew that these people were fucked up, but they deliberately hid this information so as not to give the Republicans ammo.

With all of this information gathered in one place, WND then compiled a list gleaned from Attkisson’s timeline of all those whom the Obama administration is suspected of targeting either by spying, or investigating and/or prosecuting using intelligence information.

And the list is impressive.

Former U.S. Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif.
Pro-Israel lobbyists
FBI contractor and whistleblower Shamai Leibowitz
Tea-party groups
WikiLeaks
New York Times reporter James Risen
NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake
Fox News reporter James Rosen
CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson
Former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio
Fox News reporter Mike Levine
ATF Special Agent John Dodson
Former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus
Associated Press reporters
Benghazi whistleblowers
President Obama’s vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff James Cartwright
Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning
CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou
NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden
Reporter Audrey Hudson
FBI agent and contractor Donald Sachtleben
Former state department contractor Stephen Jin-Woo Kim
The Senate Intelligence Committee
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Former CIA employee Jeffrey Alexander Sterling
Unspecified members of Congress
American-Jewish groups
Trump adviser Carter Page
Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn
Candidate Donald Trump’s campaign
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team

http://www.wnd.com/2017/04/the-big-amazing-list-of-people-obama-spied-on/

Personally, I am amazed at the people who voted for Hillary and claim that they did so because of "Trump's authoritarian tendencies."; 4/21/17, 10:56 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: There is a good chance most of these people pictured here have it.

https://twitter.com/ChelseaClinton

The young seem most at risk.; 4/21/17, 10:59 PM
Sebastian said...: Part of the problem is that Trump is not actually all that conservative. Dems who'd want to work with him could. Of course, the "derangement" looks insane to us on the right, and to the occasional self-aware lefty. But they are not really crazy: they are just in fight mode all the time, evaluating everything strictly on whether it advances their position in the culture war and in the pursuit of power. Nothing else matters anymore.; 4/21/17, 11:35 PM
Paddy O said...: YH, spot on.; 4/21/17, 11:48 PM
Leigh said...: I have to wonder if these psychiatrists -- who pooh-pooh the necessity of a face-to-face psychiatric exam before diagnosing Trump as mentally ill -- can also diagnose Trump Derangement Syndrome from afar? But maybe that's asking too much of them, since they seem to have TDS themselves.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-dangerous-mental-illness-yale-psychiatrist-conference-us-president-unfit-james-gartner-a7694316.html

Pro tip: More dentists prefer Crest.; 4/22/17, 5:49 AM
MaxedOutMama said...: That was fascinating; thank you. It's the links like that which keep me coming back and back so faithfully. That was a real insight into a type of thinking I have not understood. The Chief and I were discussing this type of attitude this week, and we could not grasp the underlying philosophy.

The author's beef with Trump is his pragmatism. Trump does have an ideology - it is success in the real world rather than his ego. Because Trump has dealt with real world problems so much, it is automatic and instinctive in Trump to look at the bottom line, and discard any approaches which are very unlikely to lead to success or incur more risk of failure than rewards.

When Gopnik writes:
People who have acts and actions that add up to some coherent plan—or even to an evil scheme—tend to have an ideology. It possesses them, or they are possessed by it. With Trump, it is perfectly clear that he only has a series of episodic wounds and reactions—it’s all fears and fits.

Trump has goals rather than an ideology. Because they are real-world goals, they are necessarily more modest in construction than purely ideological or philosophical goals.; 4/22/17, 5:57 AM
iowan2 said...: Trump is an example of something I learned as a young man. You cant control a person that does not fear for his own well being. Leverage, in short.

I learned that working with The head of a State govt agency. He ruled by fiat. Tangled with political movers and shakers in the state, and always walked away unscathed. Because he told the Governor he would talk and listen, but must likely not moderate his decisions, The governors could fire him, he would not resign. Many politically powerful people attempted to over rule him, they all failed.

Trump is the same way, No leverage exists. He is not a politician, political leverage does not exist. Money? Reputation? He already has power. All the media leverage, that has always worked before, is worthless.

The media has yet to figure it out, so it just doubles down on last weeks failed attempts. Rinse and repeat.; 4/22/17, 6:54 AM
Roger Sweeny said...: Trump is the same way, No leverage exists. He is not a politician, political leverage does not exist. Money? Reputation? He already has power. All the media leverage, that has always worked before, is worthless.

Perhaps. But I for one would not be surprised to see Trump bending quite a bit and getting a "strange new respect" in Washington.; 4/22/17, 8:26 AM
Bill Peschel said...: Ruling by fiat and bluster is one way to get things done, but if Trump wants to drain the swamp, he's going to need to pass laws, and that requires the GOP's help in Congress.

He won't get that. The money people who fund Congress won't let him.

When candidates and lawmakers have to spend more than half their time fundraising, they're not going to care what Trump says about them. They're bought and paid for.

I wish I could say that was cynical of me, but it's been borne out by reality. The Democrats had a two-year window to institute the single-payer health plan they've been raving about for decades. Instead, they preserved the system and gave insurers buckets of money.

The Republicans passed repeated bills to kill Obamacare, until the moment came when they could actually do it. Now they're covering their junk and muttering like they were caught masturbating out behind the barn.; 4/22/17, 9:45 AM
jaed said...: The author's beef with Trump is his pragmatism.

Exactly. Exactly. People on both left and right have the hardest time with this. "What are his principles? What's his ideology?" I keep saying that Trump is result-oriented and reasons backward from the desired end result, rather than forward from basic principles.

And so he doesn't try to convince people by showing how his policies flow from principles they share. Instead, he explains the desired result, expecting the results to eventually show the wisdom of the policies.; 4/22/17, 1:48 PM
cubanbob said...: Trump is going to have to deliver on one of his promises. Which one remains to be seen. The Republicans in Congress also have the same situation. Which one also remains to be seen. I suspect the Republicans in Congress and Trump will find one in common if only to get reelected.; 4/22/17, 6:00 PM
Thomas W said...: After Barack Obama took office I observed that he could announce his support of the Republican platform verbatim and the Republicans would denounce it as socialism and opposed it.

The same is true of Trump for many liberals. As the Trump cabinet was being announce I thought that Mr. Trump should have nominated Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to his cabinet and see how long until Liberals decided there must be something wrong with them.

But based on some left wing web sites they demand that their readers (followers?) oppose anything Donald Trump does just because he's doing it.; 4/22/17, 10:14 PM