Psychologist Drops Bombshell, Confirms Trump Breaks Liberal Minds on a Primal Level [WATCH]

An exchange between columnist Miranda Devine and academic Gad Saad focused on what Saad described as the psychological roots of Trump Derangement Syndrome, arguing that the phenomenon reflects emotional processing rather than reasoned political analysis.

Devine raised the topic by pointing to what she described as a widespread cultural fixation on President Donald Trump that goes beyond normal political opposition.

“And so the would you say that, for instance, what’s very popular in America at the moment is Trump derangement syndrome,” Devine said.

“Is that an example of, you know, suicidal empathy, parasitic mind, some sort of brain worm that’s got it, because it doesn’t seem to be just a normal antipathy to a political figure. It really seems to be a derangement, a psychiatric ailment. People are obsessed and compelled to attack others who they think they suspect might harbor sympathies towards Donald Trump, right?”

Saad responded by distinguishing between what he calls suicidal empathy and what he argues is a different psychological mechanism driving reactions to Trump.

“So I’ll answer the TDS question, and then I’ll go back to explain what suicidal empathy is exactly,” Saad said.

“So, TDS, you’re right in that it speaks not so much to suicidal empathy, but to a specific form of parasitic thinking, which I discuss in the parasitic mind.”

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Saad explained that human decision-making involves both cognitive and emotional systems, and that each is appropriate in different contexts.

He used a marketing example to illustrate how emotions are often deliberately invoked.

“So going back to this dichotomy of thinking versus feeling, in many cases, it makes perfect sense for us to invoke our emotional system,” Saad said.

“So for example, if I am selling you perfumes, well I won’t sit there and tell you Harvard physiologist decided that the optimal molecular structure right, because there I would be invoking your cognitive system for a product that’s a hedonic one.”

Instead, Saad said, marketers rely on emotional imagery.

“So rather, what I’m going to do there is simply show you a sexy girl with her hair flowing, riding a horse, and then I’ll put some French sounding name for the brand there, right?” he said.

Saad argued that Trump Derangement Syndrome emerges when people rely on emotional responses in situations that call for rational evaluation.

“Now Trump derangement syndrome arises from the misapplication of the wrong system,” Saad said.

“In that particular context, when judging whether a political leader is one that I should vote for or not, you’d like to think that I am going to invoke my cognitive system, but I don’t.”

According to Saad, reactions from those he describes as suffering from TDS are overwhelmingly emotional.

“Because whenever you speak about people who suffer from TDS, they always give you an affective based response,” he said.

“He disgusts me. He’s grotesque. He speaks like a cantankerous, you know, eighth eighth grade brawler, right?”

Saad contrasted that with what he said is notably absent from such critiques.

“They never say, I detest Donald Trump because I don’t respect his monetary and fiscal policy, right?” he said.

He described this reaction as rooted in what he called an “esthetic injury.”

“It’s always driven by what I call an esthetic injury, right?” Saad said.

“And why is it an esthetic injury? Because all of the highfalutin folks with the progressive Lisp have taken on certain affectations, have gone to certain schools, cross their legs a certain way to demonstrate that they belong to, as Thomas Sowell said, the Anointed Ones.”

Saad argued that Trump’s rise disrupted what he described as a carefully constructed progressive identity.

“But Donald Trump comes along, and he doesn’t exemplify those traits,” Saad said.

“So if he can ascend to the highest office in the world. This invalidates all of the effort that I have put into fabricating my own personhood as a progressive person.”

He concluded by framing the reaction to Trump as an identity-based threat.

“Therefore he is literally an existential threat to my personhood, to the beautiful facade that I have constructed,” Saad said.