Republicans in Minnesota introduced a Trump Derangement Syndrome Bill in their State House on Monday, provoking a furious backlash. Local Democrats slammed the bill as “frivolous” and a waste of taxpayers’ money, while one commentator accused the US of becoming “worse than North Korea”.
The legislation proposes to make the “condition” recognised as a mental illness in Minnesota. The Bill defines the syndrome as the “acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction to the policies and presidencies of President Donald J. Trump”.
“Symptoms may include Trump-induced general hysteria, which produces an inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and signs of psychic pathology in President Donald J. Trump’s behaviour.”
Five Republican senators—Eric Lucero, Steve Drazkowski, Nathan Wesenberg, Justin Eichorn, and Glenn Gruenhagen—authored the legislation.
Lucero claimed in a recent podcast that the group was inspired to draft the bill by Elon Musk, who has said the syndrome is “a real thing.”
Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, a Democrat, called the proposal “possibly the worst Bill in Minnesota history.”
She added: “If the authors are serious, it is an affront to free speech and an expression of a dangerous level of loyalty to an authoritarian president.”
Political commentator Jürgen Nauditt wrote in a post to his X social media account: “The USA is becoming worse than North Korea.
“This isn’t fake: Republicans in Minnesota are proposing a Bill that would make ‘violent hatred of Trump due to his policies’ a mental illness.”
The Bill is unlikely to pass through the state legislature, as the Republicans do not control either chamber.
It was introduced in the Senate but will not receive a committee hearing because Democrats have a one-seat majority.
In the House, it’s tied, with an agreement that no bill will get to the floor for a vote without bipartisan support.
Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, a Republican, said the bill was “a little bit tongue in cheek” but also claimed that Democrats “have been railroading our committees by talking about Trump more than they have been talking about the deficit, the problems that we have here in the state of Minnesota.”
He continued: “It’s getting to the point where it’s hard to have a serious conversation, even within our committees themselves. Let’s get focused on what’s important, prioritising Minnesotans.”
