Short Take: Minnesota Says Trump Derangement Syndrome is WHAT????

By Jessie Seigel

A bill just introduced in the Minnesota legislature would revise state law to add a category, "Trump Derangement Syndrome," as a mental illness. NO. The bill is not referring to Donald J. Trump's deranged mind. Rather, it would apply to any who abhor him.

The bill, proposed by five Republican state senators, would amend Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 245.462 by adding subdivisions 28 and 40a, both of which read:

Trump Derangement Syndrome.

"Trump Derangement Syndrome" means the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction to the policies and presidencies of President Donald J. Trump. Symptoms may include Trump-induced general hysteria, which produces an inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and signs of psychic pathology in President Donald J. Trump's behavior. This may be expressed by:

(1) verbal expressions of intense hostility toward President Donald J. Trump; and

(2) overt acts of aggression and violence against anyone supporting President Donald J. Trump or anything that symbolizes President Donald J. Trump.

And who, pray tell, will decide what is an intensely hostile verbal expression? Is demonstrating or attending a rally an act of violent aggression? Never mind who is to decide whether Trump's illegal activities are "legitimate policy" and when opposition is "hysterical" and "paranoid." Of course, the rabid MAGA cult that follows Trump and the actual aggression and violence Trump's bully boys visit upon those who oppose him--that is not mental illness...though perhaps someone should advise Minnesota's Democratic senators to push for such alternative language.

This is what they do to dissidents in totalitarian countries--label them insane for any opposition. And lock them up in insane asylums if not in prison.

It is shocking that Republicans have dared to attempt such an amendment in Minnesota, which is a blue state. Kamala Harris won that state in the 2024 election, and its two senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, are Democrats. However, the Democrats currently hold the state senate by only one vote. And the Republicans hold a narrow majority in the state's lower chamber. Nevertheless, one can hope there is a good chance of preventing this modification from becoming law in Minnesota.

All the same, if Republicans have the chutzpah to test-run this in a blue state, one can only imagine in how many red states this kind of legislation will succeed.

The Republican party is working full bore to turn this country into a totalitarian state. They are clearly organized, and have been for many years, integrating their efforts at all levels of government. The leaders of the Democratic party had better wake up and catch up. Simply asking for money to win national elections is not enough. Citizens want to see action.

It is evident that the Trumpists and Project 2025 backers have studied the history of fascist and totalitarian takeovers as models for their own putsch. Likewise, the Democrats had better--in a hurry--study techniques of pro-democracy movements that have defeated such coups in the past, and apply them.

For starters, the Democratic leaders in the Senate and the House had better demand that their members present a unified front on all democracy-related matters.

Furthermore, if democracy is being attacked on all fronts--and it is--then pro-democracy organizations must put aside any differences in their individual goals to work together in the organized way that their opposition does (e.g. Project 2025, the Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation, etc.). And it is urgent not only to defend, but to go on the offensive on all fronts as well.

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