Jonathan Alpert: Is "Trump Derangement Syndrome" Real?

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And imagine someone going into an ER with a medical emergency and the doctor saying, no, I can't treat you. I mean, it's just unimaginable, but it's happening in my profession. So that is, do you believe that? People are getting radicalized, but what they hear on television and what they see on social media. And, you know, people say TDS is different. But we heard Bush derangement syndrome. We heard Obama derangement syndrome. We've heard Clinton derangement syndrome. Now it's Trump. So I'm thinking about what's the big difference with this. Is there a difference? Well, it's been around for a few decades, as you suggested. But the difference is people are actually acting on it now. I have plenty. I've had plenty of patients who disliked. Biden or Harris, but never did it rise to the place where they wanted those people killed. You know, they would just express, I don't like them. I don't agree with their policy. I can't stand them. But what we have with some of the radical left is we have people who actually are consumed by Trump. They want him dead. I've even had people who can't take a vacation because they're so consumed by thoughts of Trump. So what do you say to them? Well, I give it my best to try to look at things logically, deal with their irrational thinking, challenge them a bit. Some people are open to it. Some people actually improve. Other people end up firing me. They say, you're a trumper, you're a moderate. I can't deal with you. And they go and find a therapist that aligns with their view. How much is it? There are an inordinate opinion theory about the role of president plays in their lives. I mean, there's an excellent chance. Even though Trump's everywhere and he's on, you could still live your life. You pick it up your kids. You're going to your work. It's not really affecting you substantially. There were a time where I didn't know through my youth who my friends family voted for. I didn't know who my friends voted for their 20s and 30s. Now everybody knows who everybody voted for. What happened? Well, part of it is we have a 24-7 news cycle. We have social media. But the other part is these people are just hyper-fixated and hyper-focused on Trump, the figure. And frankly, it just takes up way too much space in their head. And they need to focus on other things, whether it's work, family, friends, hobbies. But they don't. And I would suggest that they go and do that. And my opinion is that maybe people on the right. Yeah, they might be into politics, but they also value family, their careers, friends, hobbies, much more so than those on the left. So I want you to give you an example. I mean, I watch some people get so angry about him. All right, I didn't vote for him. I can't believe he won. I can't believe he did this. I can't believe he's mad at Germany. I can't believe he did this war. All right. But then there's people who the minute he jumped on the scene lost their minds. Bruce Springsteen now and Robert De Niro from day one. I can't figure him out. Listen to him. The bottom line is that I feel betrayed by my country. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it does need to return to the values that gave us our strength and humanity.

If you want our leaders to be accountable, if you're devoted to the Constitution and the rule of law, if you want the United States of America to be worthy of your love, be ready to take this to the streets together. And we will take our country back. What does that mean? Well, I'd love to know how De Niro's life has been impacted by trauma. Zero. Zero. I think he has a pretty good career. He's pretty wealthy. I'm not so sure his life has been negatively. So why is this playing out? Like, why is this? These people, they love to utilize their platform, whether it's- But he never did before, right? He's 80. He's 80 years old. And he is, he gave a, he got a Lifetime Achievement Award, didn't even talk about acting. So when you see that, if you were his therapist, what would you say to him? Well, I would challenge De Niro. I would try to understand, you know, why is this so important to you? Where's some actual evidence of how your life has been impacted or how Trump has, in his mind, ruined this country? And I would challenge him and try to get him to produce some evidence for that. And I think we'd come up empty. Right. So are you seeing this in one-on-ones? Oh, absolutely. I would say close to three quarters of my patients, and I see patients from New York to D.C. Are you worried that a lot of these conversations go from that to, I'm going to be an assassin, like the one we had last Saturday, like the one with crooks on the roof of that building, like the guy that killed Carl Charlie Kirk? Well, thankfully, I don't see people who get to that level, and I'm able to help them. But I do think generally across our country, there's... It's way too fast to rationalize bad behavior. And, you know, we have people who are endorsing micro looting. It's okay to go and shoplift. It's justified. Well, Hasan Piker. Exactly. Exactly. So how do you get that, the resentment? In fact, if we could pull that up, I'm not going to kill you, you already pulled up a bunch of stuff. But Hasan Piker coming out talking about why would we not kill a CEO of a health care company? After all, they've basically passively aggressively killed other people. So listen to this. Brian Thompson as the United Healthcare CEO. was engaging in a tremendous amount of social murder, the systematized forms of violence, the structural violence of poverty, the for-profit paywalled system of health care in this country, and the consequences of that are... tremendous amounts of pain, tremendous amounts of violence, tremendous amounts of deaths. And that was a fascinating story for me because Americans are very draconian about crime and punishment. They're very black and white on this issue. And yet, because of the pervasive pain that the...

private health care system had created for the average American, I saw so many people immediately understand why this death had taken place. So Luigi Mangione kills Brian Thompson, the CEO of a health care company, and this guy, Hasan Piker, with millions of followers, understands it. What do you say? What's his rationale? What would you say? Yeah, look how idiotic that thinking is. Because they think health care companies kill people, they go and justify killing someone. And I would ask them, well, what changes have occurred since this murder of Brian Thompson? Absolutely none. The only changes that we've seen is better security among CEOs at major companies. Hi everyone, it's Brian Kilmeade here. Are you tired of those uncomfortable dress shirts, especially when they bunch up under a sweater? If so, then you must check out collars and go. Makers of the dress collar polo. Listen up. These shirts are four-way stretch, buttery soft polos with firm dress collars on them, so they give you the dress shirt look, but extremely comfortable polo feel. You can wear them with anything under a sweater, with a blazer, or by themselves as an elevated polo. They work for any occasion. These polos are perfect, whether it's in the office. on a golf course or a night out. Collars and Co is exploding and have gone viral on social media thanks to the $1 million investment they received on Shark Tank from Mark Cuban and Peter Jay Jones. You don't have to worry about collars that flop down and spread out. They stay firm and sharp all day. It's an amazing array of sweaters, quartersips, pants, and outerwear. If you're looking for the performance dress shirt or polo that looks great all day, check out collarsandco.com. Use promo code Brian or 15% off of any purchase of $100 or more. That's promo code Brian. Instagram teen accounts default teens into automatic protections for who can contact them and the content they can see. Explore teen accounts and all of our ongoing work to protect teens online at Instagram.com slash teen accounts. So. But Luigi Mangione, how do you explain the fact that you got two rows of people who are fans of the murderer who is not famous before, was insignificant, wallowing in Hawaii trying to find a career, and he becomes a assassin. By the way, rich family. A folk hero. And there's even a musical opening here in New York about him. And it just shows you how disturbed much of our country is when they're praising an alleged killer. And that's the person that they worship. So it just shows you how disturbed our country is. And, you know, you have people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. You have people like Cynthia Nixon that justify small crimes. And I would argue that that. type of rhetoric out there leads to bigger problems that we're seeing in society. So James Carville 110 years old looks like, yeah, I'm not sure if he's drinking when he does, says stuff like this. But here's an example of how he views Trump. Now, let's say he's getting some people are impressionable. They hear that Carville helps Clinton win twice, and they hear this. I've called Trump.

DMF word, and I've called him worse than that, and I've called him a sari-sack. I've gone with it. Rod, who is JD Vance's spiritual mentor, and Tucker Carlson, who is a person of some substance in a Republican party, have both called Trump to Antichrist. Well, even I haven't gotten there. So please, all of the people that faint in the street about my name calling. Understand this. I have not yet referred to Donald John Trump as the antichrist, all right? Because I think the antichrist would be smarter than him. So if I'm listening to that, that is that you're saying I don't hear that way when Clinton was in office, Bush was in office. I didn't hear that when Obama was in office. Yeah, I didn't either. And now you have someone that was deeply aligned with the Democratic Party who's putting this rhetoric out there. And, you know, if he is 80 or 110 years old, the fact that he's so consumed by hatred towards Trump is concerning. You would think he'd have a perspective. You wouldn't be overreacting like this. Yeah, you would think so. And one of the things that I try to talk to my patients about when they talk about disappointment that the shooter missed is. I urge them to look at history and look at what happens to a country when a leader, whether it's Kirk or president, is assassinated. And they don't understand it. And with someone like Carvel, you would think that he would be able to have that perspective and look at the history of this country, but they don't because they're so hyper-focused on Trump, the figure, and their hatred for Trump. His name is Jonathan Albert. His book is Therapy Nation, how America got hooked on therapy and why it left us more anxious and divided. You also wrote a column of the Wall Street Journal, Trump Derangement Syndrome, real with a question mark. Can you say it is real? Well, what I can say is it's not real yet, but as a therapist, some of the symptoms that I'm seeing are deeply concerning. And I even went on to call it the defining pathology of the decade. We have people that are hyper obsessed with Trump. They're so anxious. They can't even take a vacation. They're kept up at night focusing on Trump. They're physically sick because of Trump. To me, that's a real pathology. And lastly, people in your profession are making it worse. How? Oh, people in my profession, they refuse to treat someone if they voted for Trump. They're telling people, if you don't like the way someone voted, just cut them out of your life. My profession is part of the problem, and we need to get back to a time where there's unity in this country like we saw after Reagan was shot. Right. And in politics, dare I say, it kind of gets my profession, but politics should matter less in your life. Oh, I totally agree with you. Friends, family. partners, these should all be more important than politics. See, I get it. For example, your team wins. You feel the euphoria. Princess Diana dies. You never met her, but you feel the sadness. I understand it. But you look at Trump, he's in at the villages, and he's signing an investment plan to help people retire, whether it's the Trump accounts or whether it's, I'm going to be talking about the live golf tour. You know, he's on all the time.

But your life should not be about him, even if you voted for him. So what is it about, have you, have you, you might not have to figure out, what is it about him? Well, I think part of the problem is Trump was a successful businessman, brash businessman, entertainer. And he was never someone who was supposed to be president. And he came through the system and obliterated the competition. And I think some people just never could accept that and reconcile that. And they still can't. And they just cannot believe that someone like him became president. I've long said that Trump could go on and cure cancer and people would still find a reason to hate him. Right. And when your book comes out on May 19th, what do you want people to take away from it? Well, I want people to understand that therapy should actually help you get better. You shouldn't, therapy doesn't need to be a lifelong activity. And also understand that therapy may be hurting you and dividing families. And you need to take a really good look at. your therapist and the therapy that you're doing if you're in therapy and the people around you. And how do you judge if your therapist is working for you? How do you know? Well, I like to say like any service provider, whether it's a hairstylist, a fitness trainer, if you're not getting the results. you probably wouldn't stick with those people. The same should be true with a therapist. If you're not feeling better, getting better, gaining insight, you probably should find a new therapist. We'll find you. Are you a therapist? I absolutely am a practicing therapist. I find Jonathan Albert. Congratulations on the book that's coming out in a couple of weeks. It's going to be a big success. Therapy Nation, how America got hooked on therapy and why it's left us more anxious and divided, along with a little analysis on Trump's Derangement Syndrome. Cheers to America's 250th birthday. Get 20% off your first purchase at Fox Newswineshop.com with code FNRadio 20. 20% discount excludes wine club offers and cannot be combined with any other promotion. Expires July 31st, 2026. Must be 21 order to order. Please drink responsibly.