Psychologically speaking, I am off-kilter.
I suffer from a variety of maladies, including tyrannophobia, authoritophobia, politicophobia, and TAD.
Coincidentally (or not), these conditions arose concurrently with the ascendance of His Royal Vileness, Donald J. Trump, to the highest office in our land.
That’s where TAD –Trump Anxiety Disorder – comes in. Never before have I worried (seemingly every hour) over the latest step a president has taken to make our lives worse.
That new-fangled researcher, Artificial Intelligence, says TAD is a term used by some therapists “to describe heightened distress, helplessness, and obsession with news and social media surrounding the political climate under Donald Trump.”
Common symptoms, says AI, are constant worry, obsessive news consumption, feelings of losing control, and conflict with family members over opposing political views.
What are TAD’s triggers?
AI lists them as policy shifts on health care, immigration, and civil rights; aggressive rhetoric on social media; and uncertainty over international relations, tariffs, and relationships with our allies.
Regarding tyrannophobia, that turns out to be “fear that a current executive is abusing powers.” Some scholars say this aversion to tyrants can be irrational or exaggerated, while others see it as necessary vigilance to avert dictatorship. Put me down for the latter.
Authoritophobia is defined as excessive fear or distrust of authority figures perceived as inherent threats.
For sure, when it comes to Trump, his ruthless “secretary of war” Pete Hegseth, and his brutish immigration adviser Stephen Miller, count me in as an incurable authoritophobic.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, politicophobia is “an irrational, abnormal fear or intense dislike of politics or politicians. Symptoms can include anxiety, panic attacks, sweating, and nausea when encountering political figures or discussions.”
I caught a bad case of anxiety in recent months, watching the egomaniacal Trump spawn worldwide chaos while his obsequious GOP-led Congress licks his beloved Florsheim shoes.
Meanwhile we haven’t even mentioned TDS – Trump Derangement Syndrome. Trump lackeys attribute this to those who criticize the President, saying they’re irrational, hysterical, or subject to mental failings.
And it certainly is true that one can be driven wacky by his warmongering, threats of genocide, murder of American citizens, attacks on universities, threats to political opponents, narcissism, vulgarity, bigotry, felonies, mocking of disabilities, misogyny, demonizing the free press, profiteering, tariffs, rising prices, reviling of Pope Leo, and – a screw being seriously loose – equating himself with Jesus.
The real truth is that there’s just a single existing case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, and it’s aptly named for the person it so obviously afflicts.
Gerry Goldstein (gerryg76@verizon.net), a frequent contributor, is a retired Providence Journal editor and columnist.
