Trumpaboutism

You know, from the title, what this blog post is about.

I witness it daily. Talk about something political in a group or Internet forum long enough, and even if the current President has nothing to do with the subject at hand, someone will bring him up.

Heaven forbid you utter those three deadly letters, however:

T...

D...

S...

That’s Trump Derangement Syndrome, in case you’ve been living under a rock this past decade.

I have yet to meet anyone who will acknowledge their obsession with the Untethered Orange Id to be excessive, let alone admit to having even a titian tinge of TDS. They invariably believe he is the Worst. President. Ever. and a singular threat to the nation, puppies, kittens, and our way of life, so their fixation is Just Right.

I have levied many criticisms at Trump policies, and have many more that I haven’t yet dumped on the blog. But, do I consider him worse than Wilson, or FDR, or LBJ, or Buchanan, my choices for the Mount Rushmore of Shame? Not even close. Heck, I think that, in a couple decades, Obama will be deemed a worse President than Trump.

Opinions do vary, and I certainly allow that mine might be wrong. Trump also has 2.5 years to change my mind. It is the obsession, the “rent-free in their heads” status that Trump enjoys, that goes beyond differences of opinion. In fact, it renders the ability to have rational debates about him nearly impossible. There are times I can feel the mouth-foaming through my computer monitor.

The stress one infected with such an all-consuming obsession must feel is beyond my ability to imagine.

All this reminds me of some Stoic philosophy.

Today I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions—not outside. -- Marcus Aurelius

It is not things that upset us, but our judgments about things. -- Epictetus

We often suffer more in our imagination than in reality. -- Seneca

In short, a person stressing about Trump is choosing to suffer that stress. Or, enjoy it.

I came across a phrase the other day:

Trump Derangement Addiction.

It highlights the reality that, for some, raging against Trump, unprovoked, gives them a high. Or at least a sense of satisfaction or purpose. It’s certainly not logical at this point - no one within earshot or reading their rants is going to be changing opinion after the hundredth iteration. If anything, it diminishes the chance that listeners or readers will take anything they have to say on Trump seriously. I know that’s my reaction to a couple handfuls of TDSers I routinely cross paths with, in person and on social media. Ditto for the Trump-Enchanted people, the ones who defend him no matter what, but these days they are fewer and far less prone to spontaneous outbursts.

This, in turn, reminded me of another aphorism, one often attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt.

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

I do my best, on this blog, to focus on ideas. On how this or that bit of current news is related to principles of liberty, on how this or that problem is best addressed by a liberty-first or individual-first approach. When it comes to Trump, I try to focus more on policies than on person. Policies and actions endure long after the person has left, therefore they matter far more than the person himself.

Policies should be judged on their merits, not on who enacted them.

It is a sad truth that many people base many of their political positions on things other than merit. They do not judge the ideas on their own. Instead, they rely on what their team tells them, or far too often nowadays, on selecting the opposite of what the other team says or does or supports. We can reliably predict the views of most Americans based on one simple question: What’s Trump’s position on this matter?

It’s just as bad to support something simply because Trump does as it is to oppose it because it’s Trump’s idea, but at least from where I sit, the blind supporters are not nearly as numerous as the blind opposers. Some will suggest that’s because Trump is making a lot of bad decisions lately, but let’s be frank - there is one Current Thing, and recency bias and most people’s inability to think about stuff apart from the Current Thing clouds the big picture assessment.

You and I and everyone who doesn’t have it knows that TDS is a thing. And, yes, if you are engaged in a conversation that’s not about him, and you have a sudden urge to bring him up, you’ve got a bit of it.

Here’s a simple truth. You can go a day, a week, a month without thinking about Trump - at all - and it will make not one whit’s difference in what happens in the world. You, on the other hand, might change. Very likely for the better. But, even if you can’t bring yourself to such a dissociation, try this: If the topic is not about Trump, don’t mention his name. If the topic is not about Trump, and someone else brings him up, ignore it. Focus on the topic, on ideas rather than person, and exclude him from consideration. See where your thoughts take you. You might be surprised what new insights you develop. You can still criticize a policy of his to your heart’s content, but you don’t have to burst a gasket while doing so.

Here’s an inconvenient truth: That burst gasket doesn’t enhance your argument, no matter how much you feel otherwise.