Shouldn’t we all have Trump Derangement Syndrome right now? | Opinion
Pete Begley served 32 years in the New York City Fire Department and retired as a battalion commander in 2002 after the conclusion of the rescue and recovery operations after the World Trade Center attacks. He now lives in Morristown, New York.
I have TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) — proudly. Not as a mark of partisanship (true Republicans take note) but as a sober recognition that a republic cannot endure when its leaders abandon the virtues that have sustained free people for 250 years.
In my view, our president has conducted himself as a bully and a braggart, a serial liar, a sexual molester, a racist, an egregious grifter, a gaslighter and — most gravely — a traitor to his own country for his role on Jan. 6 and all that followed. His pardons do not reflect the character of a nation long striving to bend toward justice.
I think it would be better for our country if we all possessed this so‑called “TDS,” as Washington’s spin doctors deride it. They treat ethics as a jest, truth as a disposable prop, honesty as an inconvenience and patriotism as a costume worn only when the cameras roll. These are the virtues any leader of a great republic should embody — and yet the very virtues they discard.
Trump and his followers have cast a long shadow over the shining city on the hill. We now interact in our daily lives with what Yeats called “an abiding sense of tragedy which sustains us through only temporary periods of joy.” Our national script has been inverted. “With malice toward all and charity toward none” has become the cry of a misled citizenry. He paints entire communities with single slanderous broad strokes, diminishing all who do not look, act or agree with him — when all we must really do is uphold the rule of law and remove the bad actors.
And I will go further. I also have Congressional Derangement Syndrome — a tribute to the sycophants, enablers, cowards and so‑called leaders who chose party over country. The late Sen. John McCain, a man of grit and honor, would surely grieve to see what has become of the Congress and the institutions he cherished.
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The vengeful Pied Piper of the White House, with his gaslighting and fearmongering, has led Americans far astray. Though he is not on the midterm ballot, his minions carry his message — loud, crude, unyielding and unfiltered. Don’t be fooled again.
In my view, the man in the White House is a dark aberration — a distortion of our values, our decency and our national character. But America’s story has never been written by one man. It has been written by millions of citizens who, in moments of doubt and drift, chose to stand up, speak out and reclaim the promise of self‑government.
We can do so again. Real Republicans must return to the fold and together we can restore steadiness, dignity, truth and the quiet courage of citizens who understand that democracy is not self‑executing. We can lift the country from its present shadows and return it to the sunlight of shared purpose. We can summon the better angels of our nature and remember that America’s greatness has always come from its people — ordinary men and women who refused to surrender their ideals.
A better day is not guaranteed. But it is possible. And possibility is the seed of renewal. Vote like our democracy depends on it — because it does.
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