Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a term Scott Adams borrowed from Charles Krauthammer and adapted into a core component of his analysis of human persuasion. Within the Adams framework, TDS is not merely a political pejorative, but a specific psychological condition where an individual’s hatred of Donald Trump is so intense that it triggers cognitive-dissonance, effectively overriding their ability to process logic, facts, or basic sensory input.
Cognitive Mechanics
Adams identifies TDS as a subset of mass hysteria. It occurs when a person’s mental model of the world (their “movie”) is so heavily invested in the idea of Trump as a uniquely existential threat that any evidence to the contrary causes internal pain. To resolve this pain, the brain hallucinations a reality that fits the existing bias. This is the foundation of two-movies-on-one-screen, where two people look at the same event—such as the “Fine People” comments in Charlottesville—and see entirely different realities.
Symptoms and Identification
The primary symptom of TDS is the inability to recognize “cracks in the other movie screen.” When smart people find themselves “fully convinced” that unimaginable catastrophes are imminent despite a lack of empirical evidence, they are likely experiencing the “drift toward the unimaginable.”
Key markers include:
- The Fine People Hoax: Continual insistence on debunked narratives even when presented with transcripts.
- The Expertise Trap: Adams argues that if observers “don’t also know the science of psychology about mass hysteria,” they lose their “credit opinion” on other complex topics, including climate change or economics.
- Emotional Overload: A state where “the dopamine-producing amazingness” of tribal belonging outweighs the value of objective truth.
The Role of the Media
Adams often notes that “sometimes when I talk about the news I accidentally become the news.” He views the legacy media as both a victim and a purveyor of TDS, citing “hit pieces” from outlets like the Washington Post as evidence of the system’s inability to process his persuasion-based analysis. In this state, the media becomes a feedback loop where “how wrong science can be even when it’s completely right” becomes a daily occurrence.
Ultimately, TDS illustrates the Adams observation that “Capitalism delivers what socialism promises”—in this case, the media marketplace delivers the specific brand of outrage and hallucination that the “deranged” consumer is most willing to pay for.