Michael Barone‘s latest Washington Examiner column focuses on the potential impact for Democrats of their “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Newton’s third law of motion states that in nature for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It can operate in politics, too. Or as Harvard law professor Jack Goldsmith recently wrote, “It is part of Trump’s evil genius that he elevates himself by inducing his critics to behave like him.“
Call it Trump Derangement Syndrome, and recognize it for what it is: something that could end up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory for the Democratic Party once again in 2018 and 2020. …
… Trump’s recent upswing has his approval at 43.5 percent — well below 50 percent, but far higher than the 35 percent President George W. Bush had before the Republicans’ “thumping” in 2006.
Perhaps this reflects the economic upswing since the Republican tax bill passed in December. Perhaps it reflects presidential initiatives on Korea, Iran, China, or the respect shown him by the leaders of France, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Germany, and others. He may be uncouth, some may think, but he’s getting results.
And perhaps it reflects the Democrats’ Trump Derangement Syndrome.
You had the spectacle of every Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and 42 Democrats on the floor opposing Trump’s nominee for secretary of state — a nominee, Mike Pompeo, for whose confirmation as CIA director some of them voted and who has been getting good marks at Langley. …
… Another spectacle of Trump Derangement Syndrome was last Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ dinner where a comedienne’s vitriolic monologue and mean-spirited attacks on the physical appearance of Trump’s press secretary validated his decisions this year and last not to attend. The event only further undermined the credibility of the anti-Trump press.
