If you believe Donald Trump is a horrible person who has proven himself to be truly horrible at every opportunity, acknowledging that he has actually done something positive and productive does not mean you have to stop pointing out how horrible he is. However, Trump Derangement Syndrome is tearing our country and our communities apart.
What is Trump Derangement Syndrome? It is a term, first coined by the late political columnist and commentator Charles Krauthammer, to describe irrational criticisms or unjustified negative reactions to President Donald Trump. Generally speaking, it is the inability for otherwise normal people to distinguish between legitimate criticism and pure, unadulterated hatred of the President.
As an example, last week, the 465 workers at the Sikorsky helicopter plant in Coatesville, PA received some exciting news. The facility, which had been scheduled to close at the end of this year, received a temporary reprieve thanks to a conversation between Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson and President Donald Trump. Yet, the MyChesCo article entitled Sikorsky Helicopter Plant in Coatesville Saved by President Donald Trump received some harsh backlash from a few Facebook users.
- “What a misleading headline!”;
- “Fake news”; and
- “Yeah no. Unliking and unfollowing Mychesco”.
These comments come in spite of the fact that the CEO of Lockheed Martin clearly stated in her announcement, “At the request of President Trump, I took another look at our decision to close the Coatesville, PA facility and have decided to keep it open while we pursue additional work. ”
The reaction is likely because of the statements that came from U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and U.S. Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA):
“I received word from Lockheed Martin that they are reversing their decision to close the Sikorsky helicopter plant in Coatesville. I am pleased that following the June 10, 2019 letter I sent, along with the efforts of U.S. Representative Chrissy Houlahan and other local elected officials, Lockheed Martin heeded our call to keep the plant’s 465 workers on the job,” stated Casey.
Houlahan said, “I appreciate the careful consideration Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson and Sikorsky President Dan Schultz gave to my request that they keep the helicopter manufacturing facility open in our community of Coatesville, PA.”
Both politicians highlighted their efforts but neither credited Trump with the actual touchdown. This seemingly gave some supporters the false idea that the President had little or nothing to do with the victory. There are those who have forgotten that in a June 17 interview, published in the Daily Local News, Rep. Houlahan stated, “I am glad that President Trump joined our fight… and, despite our many disagreements, stand ready for him to work with us on protecting Pennsylvanian jobs.”
Why does it seem that Democrats cannot give Donald Trump credit when credit is due? There is no doubt that there were officials, at every level of government, who made phone calls and sent strongly worded letters. However, there is also no doubt that it was only Donald Trump who had the juice to convince Marillyn Hewson to keep the Coatesville, PA facility open and to work with the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation to find more work for the plant.
This negative response to everything connected to Donald Trump, or the inability to acknowledge anything good coming from his efforts, is getting old. Don’t you agree? Many Trump supporters believe if the President cured cancer, Democrats would complain he was putting doctors out of work. The way things are going, that idea is not hard to believe.
The statement from Lockheed Martin’s CEO clearly identified her conversation with Donald Trump as the motivating factor for saving Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky Helicopter Plant in Coatesville. It was not a letter from U.S. Senator Bob Casey, not a request from a freshman Congressperson, and not the efforts of County officials.
That said, Hewson did state she expects the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation to help Lockheed find work for the Coatesville plant. So, we will see which of these political figures stand up and take responsibility if the facility eventually closes at the end of 2020. Do you think Casey and Houlahan will embrace it as their failure or will they point the finger at Donald Trump?
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You criticize people for being 1 sided in their judgement, yet you are doing the same thing. You can’t fault people for hating the man that has done so much to create this divide, and actively & intentionally harm people. Under his direction, people are in cages, the rich have gotten drastically richer [at our expense], and he is working to remove protections of all types, consumer, environmental, etc. You fail to elaborate on why people are angry toward him. Its certainly not just for the fun of it. He has done & said some truly awful things and your inability to articulate the rationale for why people feel ill towards him diminishes your response.
The issue is that Donald Trump only seems to put effort towards things that will benefit him via good publicity with his supporters. He only cares because its a mostly white area that is part of his base. He also probably knows that he needs to carry PA in the 2020 election. I wonder how they will feel when he takes away their healthcare by working to repeal the ACA with no plan to replace it.
Lockheed is one of many corporations that were made much richer by Trumps tax cuts and the downstream impact is that these companies have additional capital to reorganize, by removing less profitable facilities and reinvesting that cash elsewhere like stock buy backs and bonuses. Just like many in the auto industry.
One self-serving act, does not negate all the harm he has done and the people he has hurt.
“John Smith” proves the whole point of the article. They cannot separate their hatred on the man from his policies and cannot distinguish between policies that are positive from those that are not. They have made Trump into the devil and nothing good can come from him…ever.