Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said he doesn’t see a cure for what supporters of President Trump have dubbed Trump Derangement Syndrome.
During the White House press briefing Tuesday, a reporter from a pro-Trump outlet asked Dr. Oz whether he had medical advice for people she says are experiencing Trump Derangement Syndrome.
“It’s disheartening to see people lost in that way, but treating stupid is really hard, and that becomes a real problem,” said Dr. Oz, a world-renowned heart surgeon before entering pop culture and then politics.
“I am concerned about folks who have focused their entire life energy on dislike of the president,” Dr. Oz added.
Trump Derangement Syndrome is a negative term used by Trump supporters for pundits and politicians who have an intense or visceral reaction to Mr. Trump’s political actions or public comments.
Originally coined by Charles Krauthammer, a psychiatrist, the label suggests that some of his opponents go beyond legitimate public concerns into existential hatred or forms of psychosis. Mr. Trump’s critics argue that the label has been weaponized to dismiss political disagreement.
Rep. Warren Davidson, Ohio Republican, introduced a bill last year that would direct the National Institutes of Health to study the psychological and social roots of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
The bill, which stalled in the House, would have used existing NIH funds to study the roots and long-term impact of the phenomenon.
