Trudeau Derangement Syndrome?

 

Trump Derangement Syndrome has been a growing social problem for some time. People become irrational when discussing Trump.

We now also seem to have Poilievre Derangement Syndrome; demonstrated by a Global journalist at his most recent press conference. Any sane person would have seen that his was odd and improper behavior. 

Those who suffer from Trump or Poilievre derangement syndrome insist that Trump and Poilievre lie.  But the opposite is true. They are speaking truths we are supposedly not allowed to speak. And they say it clearly, so it cannot be ignored; they are good communicators. 

Precisely this is a problem to people who are trying to impose and live some lie. 

The spontaneous reaction is to claim it is Trump, or Poilievre, who are lying. Confession by projection. 

Another natural reaction is incoherent rage: this is the “fight or flight” reaction. M. Scott Peck and other psychologists have noted this when narcissists are confronted with their falsehoods: “narcissistic rage,” which can look to a sane observer like a psychotic break. They will say or do objectively crazy things; they lose control of themselves. Like the Global reporter.

Another accusation is likely to be that Trump or Poilievre are “bullying” or are being “violent.” When all they are doing is speaking the truth; and with a sense of humour. More confession by projection: resistance feels like bullying to those trying to bully. The cheerfully peaceful freedom truckers faced similar accusations.

But that is not what I write about today. Today, I want to examine my own Trudeau Derangement Syndrome. I can no longer abide the very sight of Justin Trudeau; the sound of his voice is like the proverbial chalk screeching on a blackboard. 

Is this the same thing?

I think not. 

To begin with, I’m pretty confident I do not have outbursts of rage or irrational speech or behaviour as a result. I just turn off the video. I do criticize in print, but I think I do not accuse Trudeau of saying what he did not say, or doing what he did not do. I think I make an effort to preserve context. I think my response is more in the pit of the stomach than in the synapses of the brain. It is disgust more than fear.

And it is not tribal the way TDS seems to be. TDS seems to be caused by only one side of the political spectrum: those who react so passionately to Trump seem to do so as well with Poilievre, or Tucker Carlson, or George Bush, or Ben Shapiro, or Jordan Peterson—all more or less on the right politically, all rough ideological allies. 

I, on the other hand, have the same reaction to Erin O’Toole as to Trudeau. I had the same reaction, in his day, to Richard Nixon, or to George Bush Senior, or, for that matter, to Dinesh D’Souza. These people are not all on the same side.

My core complaint, in my own mind, is that they are liars. This resembles TDS. But I think my claim is generally objective and provable. It is not what they say, but that I have caught them in an actual lie. Nixon and O’Toole were quite open about running on the right for their party’s leadership, then moving over to the centre to contest the general election. In other words, they lied. 

George Bush Sr. famously said “read my lips-no new taxes”; and then raised taxes while in office. Surely that was an unambiguous lie.

I have caught D’Souza and Trudeau in similar lies. When I do, a curtain goes down for me. Lying blatantly is unforgivable—until and unless an apology is offered.

I would not mind so much if they are artful about it. I can forgive a genial rascal; such lies are largely for entertainment value, like tales of Paul Bunyan. Diefenbaker used to lie like that; Trump does. I do not accuse a stage magician of lying, either. 

But these guys, Nixon, Bush, and the rest, were perfectly flat-footed and open, without even trying to be charming about it. That suggests contempt of their audience.

And that, in the end, is what galls me most about Trudeau. He is obviously at all times acting, putting on a performance, not saying what he really thinks. It is his only skill; he is, after all, a drama teacher. 

But he is such a bad actor. His performance is so awful it is insulting to suspend disbelief. He is just a clown in whiteface, just as he is in blackface; mugging for the camera and saying “look at me.” A good actor instead disappears into the character.

A particularly annoying tic is that, when he is openly lying, he signals it by saying “ah” at almost every second word. It is as if he wants to make it clear by this that he is calculating what he is going to say, rather than speaking spontaneously. In other words, he is asking us to give him license to act, to lie. He is making no effort. 

Compare Trump. Trump ran in the general election on exactly the same platform as in the primaries. In office, he made an effort to do exactly what he said he would do.

We desperately need the Trumps and the Poilievres right now—assuming Poilievre pays out and does not prevaricate. Our society has become increasingly delusional and narcissistic.