Perhaps I should explain the term "Trump Derangement Syndrome" which is one I borrowed from elsewhere but is not intended to argue in favor of anything, it just seems to capture the issue very well, no matter if one is against Trump or not. The origin of the term is the following article in the LA Times written by libertarian and antiwar author Justin Raimondo: Do you suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome? -- some excerpts follow:
Although the term "derangement" is here targeting the rather massive and vocal anti-Trump discourse, this term can be used in a different way as well, one which is definitely a central part of the intended discussion. How deranged are Trump and his team actually and how wacky is all the support he's getting from the population, politicians or even military people? Is it irrational to the degree that it should be rejected no matter what? And finally the term might cover as well the chaos in the wake of the Trump election: as if sanity itself took a big hit when discussing US politics and world affairs. The derangement syndrome as bankruptcy of politics itself, demonstrated by illogic and emotion all over the place, becoming indistinguishable from all other, possibly saner reporting on the matter.The country is in the throes of a major epidemic, with no known cure and some pretty scary symptoms. It's called Trump Derangement Syndrome, or TDS, and it’s rapidly spreading from the point of origin – the political class – to the population at large.
In the first stage of the disease, victims lose all sense of proportion. The president-elect’s every tweet provokes a firestorm, as if 140 characters were all it took to change the world.
The mid-level stages of TDS have a profound effect on the victim’s vocabulary: Sufferers speak a distinctive language consisting solely of hyperbole.
As TDS progresses, the afflicted lose the ability to distinguish fantasy from reality.
...the final stage of the TDS epidemic: violence against a democratically elected leader. Unless a cure for TDS is found, this is where we are headed.
The purpose of this thread is to explore the possible rational positions one can take on Trump, the alt-right movement and directly related topics. And as well explore the specific irrationalities involved leading up to surprise elections in the US, as attempt to bring some order into the spreading chaos.