FROM BUSH DERANGEMENT SYNDROME TO TRUMP ANXIETY:
Psychologists and other therapists are reporting that the political rise of Donald Trump is causing ‘Trump anxiety’ among their clients. Trump Anxiety, unlike Bush Derangement Syndrome which only afflicted Democrats, is afflicting Americans regardless of their political affiliation.
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Another example is Ken Goldstein, a Los Angeles-based author and businessman who is a Democrat. Goldstein recalled meeting with a business associate recently and feeling astounded when the man said he thought Trump would “be great for America.” “You just realize you have nothing more to say to that person,” he said.
Perhaps the most insidious symptom of Trump Anxiety is highlighted by Goldstein finding little comfort in the possibility of Trump’s defeat because the Donald’s followers “are still there.” “Who are these people?” he asked. “Are they at the grocery store, are they sitting next to me at Dodger Stadium? That makes me nervous.”
Which is nothing new; after the 1972 election, the leftwing New Yorker (but I repeat myself) film critic Pauline Kael was quoted by the New York Times as saying, “I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don’t know. They’re outside my ken. But sometimes when I’m in a theater I can feel them.”
Similarly, in 2008, the Manhattan Institute’s Harry Stein was at a 2008 dinner party at Hastings on Hudson, in deepest of deep blue New York State (How blue is it?!, as another Ed was wont to rhetorically ask Johnny Carson? It’s Keith Olbermann’s birthplace!) in which he dared to be the lone voice of dissent, proffering his opinion that a failed community organizer might not be the best choice for the presidency. His host immediately snorted, Margaret Dumont-style, “I can’t believe I’m sitting next to a Republican!”, which would become the title of Stein’s book early the following year, published just as the Madoff-esque bubble burst on Hopenchange. (Just ask Michigan’s disillusioned voters.)