“Trump Derangement Syndrome” persists today if a newer strain dominates. This new form is something of a close reading of President Donald Trump and his allies, which, despite its literary merit, fails to capture honest analysis.

The occasion usually follows the same sequence of events: Trump says or does something offhand, intricate accusations follow from bald appearances, and the public — the Left-public, most often — gleans from the news the latest awful, definitive quality of the president. It goes beyond the common discourtesy of refusing one’s political opponents the benefit of the doubt in that it is obsessed with details and is intent on pushing context out of the picture. Actions and bare phrases, along with their surroundings, speak not only for themselves but for the actor — in this case, anyone Trump or Trump-adjacent.