President Donald J. Trump at UNGA2025. (Photo: Trump, Truth Social)
Diagnosis Newsom: Obsessive Political Preoccupation with TRUMP
‘Mr. Trump himself isn’t the pathology; he is the trigger’
By Katy Grimes, November 15, 2025 8:30 am
“Is ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ Real?” Jonathan Alpert asked in a column at the Wall Street Journal. “No therapist would render such a derogatory and partisan diagnosis, but I’ve seen it in my practice.”
We’ve all witnessed Trump Derangement Syndrome, and some of us have experienced it in real time with family members, friends, co-workers, and strangers, all who are triggered by a red hat or t-shirt, or an image of Donald Trump on television. TDS is a serious mental disorder in which a person has been driven mad over their hatred of Donald Trump, abandoning all rationality, logic and reason.
Mr. Alpert, who is a psychotherapist, says that he has seen it in his own psychotherapy practice. “Patients across the political spectrum have brought Donald Trump into therapy not to discuss policy but to process obsession, rage and dread,” he says. “Their distress is symptomatic, not ideological.”
Alpert says the presentation aligns with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders:
- persistent intrusive thoughts
- emotional dysregulation
- impaired functioning
- sleepless nights
- compulsive news checking
- physical agitation
“Many confess they can’t stop thinking about Donald Trump even when they try. They interpret his every move as a threat to democracy and to their own safety and control.”
Well, never fear. Congress has a solution: H.R.3432. The TDS Research Act of 2025 by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH): “To direct the Director of the National Institutes of Health to conduct or support research to advance the understanding of Trump Derangement Syndrome, and for other purposes.”
Jonathan Alpert continues with his diagnoses:
Call it “obsessive political preoccupation”—an obsessive-compulsive spectrum presentation in which a political figure becomes the focal point for intrusive thoughts, heightened arousal and compulsive monitoring. (Gavin Newsom, call your office, stat).
I initially viewed this as an ideological reaction, an understandable response to a polarizing figure. But over time the symptoms took on a more clinical shape. What once looked like outrage now presents as a fixation that distorts perception and consumes attention.
One patient told me she couldn’t enjoy a family vacation because “it felt wrong to relax while Trump was still out there.” (imagine if that was your wife…) Others report panic attacks or trouble sleeping after seeing him in the news.
Their anxiety has outgrown politics and become a way of being.”
“Their anxiety has outgrown politics and become a way of being.” Let me interject here… Most TDS sufferers were always nutty. What once looked like outrage at Donald Trump’s elections now presents as a fixation that distorts perception and consumes attention. It’s not normal or mentally healthy.
TDS sufferers lost their minds when they lost the first election to Trump. Most Democrats assumed that they would retain power following Obama’s two terms. When Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016, obsessive political preoccupation set in. They lost power, and because power and control are at the root of the Democrat Party, the loss was overwhelming. Political disagreement turned into perceived personal threat – transference or projection – they irrationally imagined that what they had planned for conservatives, would now be done to them.
Alpert says:
“From a diagnostic standpoint, it overlaps with obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and trauma-related syndromes. While not a formal diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, it reflects the same symptom patterns and behavioral mechanisms used to define emerging conditions. By that measure, this presentation merits serious consideration.”
Intense therapy is needed because “Mr. Trump himself isn’t the pathology; he is the trigger.” Alpert continues:
“For many, he functions as a psychological screen onto which unresolved fears and insecurities are projected. Political disagreement turns into perceived personal threat.”
“Therapy, once a space for cognitive restructuring, has in some quarters become an echo chamber for emotion. Rather than challenging distorted thoughts, many therapists affirm them, mistaking empathy for effectiveness.” (leftist therapists empathize with TDS sufferers, and affirmed their madness rather than treating it).
“The language of trauma and safety has migrated into everyday discourse, pathologizing discomfort and politicizing distress.
“Political anxiety serves as moral performance instead of a cue for regulation.”
For many Americans, what began as a stress response has become a chronic state of hyperarousal and vigilance, Alpert explains. “In 2016 the reaction was acute: disbelief, anger, panic. By 2020 it had hardened into identity. Now it has become a way of life.”
The loss of control is overwhelming for TDS sufferers.
“During the 2024 campaign and into 2025, many patients have spoken with fatalistic dread about Mr. Trump’s continuing presence at the center of national life. Even hearing his name can trigger a physiological response. They aren’t reacting to Mr. Trump the man but to Trump the symbol—the embodiment of chaos, threat and loss of control.”
TDS sufferers are reacting to the embodiment of chaos, threat and loss of control.
“Patients must learn to separate internal anxiety from external reality and to see Mr. Trump not as an emotional projection but as an external figure whose significance can be managed rather than magnified,” Alpert says.
For the left and far too many on the right, they are critical of Trump’s approach to and style of politics, ignoring that he is a street fighter from Queens. Trump’s politics are far more honest than those who claim he doesn’t act “Presidential.” They loved Barack Obama’s “Presidential” behavior, ignoring that he set America on a dangerous path to destruction.
Alpert concludes, “The goal isn’t to feel safe from Mr. Trump but to feel stable despite him. We can’t have a healthy democracy if half the country experiences the other half as a trauma trigger. The challenge, clinical and cultural, is to rebuild psychological distance—to see the difference between what we feel and what truly is. Only then can people engage politically without losing their mental balance.”
Enjoy H.R. 3432 the “Trump Derangement Syndrome Research Act of 2025”
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Trump Derangement Syndrome Research Act of 2025” or the “TDS Research Act of 2025”.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Trump Derangement Syndrome has been described as a behavioral or psychological phenomenon involving intense emotional or cognitive reactions to Donald J. Trump, his actions, or his public presence, with early documented references emerging during his 2016 presidential campaign.
(2) Notable early instances of TDS include certain media coverage amplifying polarized responses to Donald J. Trump’s campaign rhetoric, which some observers cite as initial signs of TDS, though precise origins remain understudied.
(3) Recurrent, selective reporting by media outlets, emphasizing aspects of Donald J. Trump’s actions or statements while omitting broader context, has been alleged to contribute to TDS by intensifying polarized public reactions and deepening societal division.
(4) Frequent amplification of unverified or anonymously sourced claims about Donald J. Trump’s conduct has further fueled TDS, driving significant public outrage and contributing to heightened emotional responses among individuals and groups.
(5) The following two confirmed assassination attempts against Donald J. Trump occurred in 2024:
(A) On July 13, 2024, at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, a shooter wounded Donald J. Trump’s ear, killed one attendee, and injured two others.
(B) On September 15, 2024, at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, a suspect was apprehended with a rifle and the incident was investigated as an assassination attempt.
(6) Understanding TDS may contribute to broader insights into political polarization, media influence, and psychological responses to public figures, with implications for public health and social cohesion.
(7) The National Institutes of Health, through its existing programs, is well-positioned to study the psychological and social factors underlying TDS, including its origins, media influences, and potential links to extreme behaviors, to inform public health strategies.
SEC. 3. NIH RESEARCH ON TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME WITHIN EXISTING PROGRAMS.
(a) In General.—The Director of the National Institutes of Health, through the existing programs and authorities of the National Institute of Mental Health and other relevant institutes and centers, shall conduct or support research to advance the understanding of Trump Derangement Syndrome, including its origins, manifestations, and long-term effects.
(b) Research Objectives.—The research conducted under subsection (a) shall include—
(1) efforts to identify the initial emergence or earliest documented cases (commonly referred to as “patient zero” or index cases) of TDS, including historical and social analyses to trace the onset of TDS;
(2) investigation of the long-term psychological, social, or behavioral impacts of TDS on affected individuals, communities, or public discourse;
(3) analysis of contributing factors, such as media exposure, political polarization, or social dynamics, to the development or spread of TDS; and
(4) exploration of potential interventions, coping mechanisms, or strategies to mitigate adverse effects of TDS, as applicable.
(c) Collaboration.—The Director shall collaborate with the heads of other Federal agencies, academic institutions, and relevant organizations, as appropriate, to achieve the objectives described in subsection (b).
(d) Annual Report To Congress.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Director shall submit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report on—
(1) the progress of research conducted under this section;
(2) any findings related to the initial emergence or long-term effects of TDS; and
In this Act, the term “Trump Derangement Syndrome” or “TDS” refers to a behavioral or psychological phenomenon characterized by intense emotional or cognitive reactions to Donald J. Trump, his actions, or his public presence, as observed in individuals or groups.
A California native and Navy mom, Katy lives in Sacramento, CA.
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Well, KG. This TDS Research Act of 2025 sounds like a very worthwhile research project. I hope that some of us on the other side are not becoming afflicted with NDS….Newsom (or Newscum) Derangement Syndrome. THAT would be unfortunate. The other night I had a dream, for the FIRST time, that I was in a crowd in right in front of the governor as he was making a speech to the crowd behind me. I was standing right in front of him as he stood tall at the podium. As I looked up, suddenly, I could see right up his nostrils. It was so gross looking that it woke me up. It was a nightmare!!! 🙁
I got through Mamdami’s odious new york victory speech in its entirety, but immediately following there was a clip of newsom yammering about something. I don’t know what it was about because I had to turn it off – I can’t stand his blather. I don’t think it’s “newsom derangement syndrome” as I don’t hate him, but he’s so pumped full of incomprehensible crap I can’t abide his yapping. It’s like being in a meeting where someone is nonstop clicking there pen. I think in the end it will be like biden, for all the damage both have done, when they leave office it will be like they never existed. Or like how some people think about specific ghosts, you don’t talk about them because if you do they’ll show up and bother you.
” I could see right up his nostrils”
Oh my! Were they packed full of a white powdery substance by any chance?
It sounds to me like you all have the same syndrome with Gavin Newsome that you can’t even say his name. I guess it takes one to know one.
“Most TDS sufferers were always nutty.”
This describes Newsom to a T. It is clear he has a mental illness with his outbursts and tirades recently with no provocation. He’s behaves like a 21st Century Hitler.
Oh, but Dumps tirades and all his other stupid immoral behavior is acceptable to you. You must be the same as him.
It’s a terrible, terrible thing and very sad too that Gavin Newsom has put all of us through his bizarre determination to destroy California for his own ends. It obviously didn’t have to happen, did it.
I wonder if Newsom has TDS himself or if he is just cynically exploiting the group that he knows has it, the “always-nutty” (it’s true) ones that he certainly helped to make worse every step of the way. Good for him, purposely making the mentally ill worse. He must be proud. For crying out loud.
Is opposition to this symptomatic of derangement?
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/trump-let-600000-chinese-students-prop-universities
How else is Newsom supposed to run from his record – Constantly say “Trump” and then the stupid people ignore their reality!!
It eats those who suffer from TDS from the inside, out.
It can show up in the color of their hair, once blonde, brunette or naturally red morphs into green, purple, neon blue!
It shows in their eyes, they begin to bulge and move nervously.
Then the grimace on their face, oh my, so sad, so mad, the frown they cannot hide.
Then it takes over in action, they drop family and friends that like the outcome of Trump’s presidency. America becomes an ugly place to them. They lose all sense of responsibility of their lives. They end up on camera or in a corner, muttering, it’s all TRUMP’s fault!
TDS is very serious, not sure how it can be cured.
Nailed it.
“TDS sufferers lost their minds when they lost the first election to Trump. Most Democrats assumed that they would retain power following Obama’s two terms. When Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016, obsessive political preoccupation set in. They lost power, and because power and control are at the root of the Democrat Party, the loss was overwhelming. Political disagreement turned into perceived personal threat – transference or projection – they irrationally imagined that what they had planned for conservatives, would now be done to them.”
“TDS sufferers are reacting to the embodiment of chaos, threat and loss of control.”
^^^ This is the essence of TDS loonies in a nutshell…they apparently belong in a nuthouse….
Living your life without a shred of logic and being driven by your emotions is a helluva way to live….
Unfortunately, sane and logical people have to deal with this neurosis and California residents suffer by having a bunch of TDS patients running the state (into the ground, I might add)
I concur with your diagnosis, Katy. Now on with the exciting treatment plan, a work in high gear progress, utilizing all of our expert surgical skill and judgment. Let’s all chip in and make California great again! Get pumped up and involved!