There's no denying that TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) is a very real psychological phenomenon that leads sufferers to make remarkably poor and destructive decisions. After Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, scores of Americans seemed to lose their minds. People threw away perfectly good marriages and friendships. Young, woke parents refused to let their conservative parents see the grandchildren. Women especially went nuts. They knit pink hats, named them after their private parts, and marched en masse. Or they dressed in red capes and cosplayed the enslaved breeder women in the laughable dystopian rape fantasy, "The Handmaid's Tale."

Terror and rage shot through the roof. Psychologists use the phrase "political anxiety" to describe the angst of their clients in our increasingly politicized and polarized society. In truth, it is leftists who politicized and polarized society and who occupy the majority of therapists' couches. They have achieved this through their use of over-the-top rhetoric, which they process and distribute to the public through their totalitarian control of cultural narrative generators. Thus, leftists all know that white supremacists are under every bed and neo-Nazis occupy every closet; the Earth is never more than five years from man-made immolation; ignorant MAGAts are bent on spreading totally naturally occurring killer viruses; and Orange Man Bad is poised to crush all the good, pious progressives in the iron grip of fascism. 

None of this fearmongering is good for anyone, of course. A panicky populace is a dangerous populace: it's the difference between that bear you see eating blueberries on a distant hillside and the bear you have backed into a corner with no way out but through you. Never mind that the corner is imaginary; it's real to the bear.

And so, many have been wondering how the left will take it if Donald Trump wins the 2024 election. According to veteran political analyst Mark Halperin, a Trump-Vance victory will trigger "the greatest mental health crisis in the history of the country."

Halperin sat in on Tucker Carlson's show this week for a wide-ranging discussion. When Carlson asked him what he thought would happen if Trump wins, Halperin predicted a psychological holocaust on the left that would fall somewhere between "The Purge" and the zombie apocalypse.

"I say this not flippantly," began Halperin. "I think it will be the cause of the greatest mental health crisis in the history of the country. I think tens of millions of people will question their connection to the nation, their connection to other human beings, their connection to their vision of what their future — for them and their children — could be like. And I think that it will require an enormous amount of access to mental health professionals. I think it'll lead to trauma in the workplace. I think there'll be some degree of —"

At this point, an incredulous Carlson asked Halperin if he was being serious.

"A hundred percent serious. A hundred percent serious," the political prognosticator assured him. Then he returned to his litany. "I think there'll be alcoholism, there'll be broken marriage—"

"What?" interjected the host. 

"Yeah. They think he's the worst person possible to be president," Halperin explained. "And, having won by the hand of Jim Comey and fluke in 2016, and then [Trump] performed in office for four years, and denied who won the election last time, and January 6 — the fact that, under a fair election, America chose, by the rules pre-agreed to, Donald Trump again, I think it will cause the biggest mental health crisis in the history of America."

He's probably right. I remember having a difficult time accepting Barack Obama's re-election because he had broken with so many precedents and American norms in his first term. I understood how enough people might have been fooled the first time or perhaps wanted to be "part of history." But the reaffirmation that, yes, America meant to choose that sort of leadership gave me nightmares for weeks. I felt that my country was gone, and I went through a mourning period of sorts. So yes, I imagine a second Trump victory will be a second-airplane-into-the-towers shock of grim realization for brainwashed, frightened, and already emotionally teetering progressives.

Halperin thinks so, too. "And I don't think it will be kind of a passing thing that by the inauguration will be fine. I think it will be sustained and unprecedented and hideous. And I don't think the country's ready for it."

Yikes!

From there, the light-hearted banter delved into speculation about the potential for violence. "Yeah, I think there'll be some violence," Halperin confirmed. "I think there'll be workplace fights. There'll be fights at kids' birthday parties. I think there'll be protests that will turn violent. I hope they're not, but I think there will be some.'

The seasoned analyst went on to plumb the nature of the imminent despair of the American left. "I think it will be less anger and more a failure to understand how it could happen. You know, like the death of a child, or your spouse announcing that she's a lesbian and she's leaving you for your best friend — like something that's so traumatic that it is impossible for even the most mentally healthy person to truly process and incorporate into their daily life." 

The most mentally healthy Democrat, he should have specified. Republicans and patriots face political defeat and alienation from their own country on a regular basis without going bonkers.

"I hope I'm wrong, but I think that's what's going to happen for tens of millions of people because they think that their fellow citizens supporting Trump is a sign of fundamental evil at the heart of their fellow citizens and of the nation," Halperin concluded. "That's how they view it."

Should a Trump-Vance victory come to pass, remember to bring in the pets and children and lock the doors before you start popping champagne corks.

Carlson posted the entire two-plus-hour interview on X. You can watch the relevant part of the discussion below:

NEW: Mark Halperin predicts there will be the biggest mental health crisis in American history if Trump wins, predicts Democrats will resort to violence.

Halperin predicts there will be workplace fights and violent protests launched by the left.

"I think it will cause the… pic.twitter.com/lQNveS2lIY

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 15, 2024