The real Trump Derangement Syndrome

Transcript:I’m Thomas Mills for PoliticsNC. Today is Tuesday, April 15 2025 and we’ve returned to a dark place in our history.It’s been more than 70 years since authorities or quasi-authorities could snatch people off the street and disappear them into a gulag for some indeterminant period of time.That practice largely ended in 1955 after the lynching of Emmitt Till.After almost 60 years of Jim Crow rule, enough people finally became outraged at the vigilante justice and lack of due process that had condemned so many African Americans to death or long prison sentences.Before then, Black men were regularly picked up for petty crimes, or for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and sentenced to work camps where they provided slave labor to build roads, bridges, tunnels, and railways or to supply labor for local industries.You know, kept taxes and wages low.Donald Trump has brought it back with a twist.His goons are snatching people off the street and sending them to foreign gulags with no due process.He’s not using a corrupt justice system like the ones that condemned Black men to hard labor.He’s ignoring the justice system altogether.He’s refusing to comply with an order from the United States Supreme Court to return and unlawfully imprisoned man.And a lot of Americans are cheering.Republicans in Congress are acting like Southern legislatures of the early 20th century.They are turning their backs on the rule of law and civil rights.They won’t defend the courts.They are complicit in undermining the Constitution and supporting authoritarianism.They are the real victims of Trump Derangement Syndrome.They are deluding themselves.Watching him threaten our allies, end long-standing trade agreements, blow up our alliances, side with dictators, crash the stock market, trash civil rights, ignore court orders and pretend that’s good for our country?That’s Trump Derangement Syndrome.They are the descendants of the people who argued to keep other people enslaved.They stripped voting rights and civil rights from citizens at the turn of the 20th century.Now, they’re watching silently as a would-be dictator threatens to send American citizens to foreign gulags.It took almost 70 years to defeat them last time.We may have to fight longer this time.I’m Thomas Mills signing off for PoliticsNC. Get full access to PoliticsNC at www.politicsnc.com/subscribe