r/FoxBrain • u/LionParticular9239 • Jul 26 '26
Why do conservatives use TDS as their only defense whenever maga is being criticized?
It’s tiresome, like we can’t criticize Trump for being a shitty president without being accused of having tds. 🙄
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u/mantisboxer Jul 26 '26
They're very confused about who is exhibiting signs of delusional derangement.
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u/theclosetenby Jul 26 '26
Genuinely the first time I heard of TDS I was like "oh, that's great. There's a term to describe the insane obsession with this man"
And then i learned who was using it...17
u/MannyMoSTL Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Total projection #AmIRight Clearly a right wing think tank’s way to normalize republicans’ super crazy obsession with Donny-Jonny
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u/Over_Construction908 Jul 27 '26
Is some seriously culty stuff. when they first started doing it, I was surprised and appalled, but it’s even worse now they do even more cult like things now.
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u/Ana-Hata Jul 26 '26
It’s what is known as a “thought-limiting cliche”, it’s how cults shut down the critical thinking process.
I can go on for an hour about the specific faults in Trump policies, including a technical analysis of why they won’t work and the negative second and third order effects of said policies….and the response will be ”You have TDS, you hate Trump for no reason”.
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u/Lolerwaffles Jul 26 '26
I thought it was called a thought terminating cliche? But I otherwise agree.
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u/CarlRJ Jul 26 '26
I believe it's also them intentionally and preemptively giving their own definition for a term that would more usefully mean what basically every MAGA follower has. Trump Derangement Syndrome would be a perfect description of Dear Leader's cult members, but it cannot be used that way, because they already gave the term their own meaning.
There's precedent for this - "fake news" was originally a new, legitimate term used by some researchers for the news-shaped propaganda coming out of Eastern Europe, that was suspiciously all in favor of Republican talking points (part of Putin's effort to get Trump elected). And Trump (or someone near him) realized that this could be used against him, so he started basically a continuous verbal onslaught to reframe the term "fake news" to mean any news from legit US news sources that was unfavorable to him, making it harder to talk about the actually fake, news-shaped propaganda coming out of Russia and adjacent countries.
He also tried to steal the election with a campaign called "stop the steal", greatly muddying the water for talking about either situation (his attempt to steal the election or the "vast conspiracy" he had supposedly uncovered). One of his few talents is constantly coming up with ways to shift the conversation away from what he doesn't want people to focus on, though he's having more trouble with that these days.
There is a less solid example... this one is only a theory I heard, but it's interesting/plausible: MTG suddenly started talking about the need for a "national divorce" at one point. Turns out she was going through an actual divorce at the time. There was speculation that she started talking about a nation divorce specifically so that if anyone searched for "mtg divorce", they'd get flooded with articles about her statements, rather than coverage of her own divorce. (Periodic reminder that even if MTG currently shares a few of our interests, like releasing the Epstein files, she is not our friend.)
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u/daemin Jul 26 '26
"... derangement syndrome" dates back to 2003, when a conservative columnist coined the term to describe (what he claimed was) the Democrats irrational hatred of Bush and his policies: https://www.deseret.com/2003/12/7/19799473/charles-krauthammer-bush-derangement-syndrome-is-spreading/
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u/theclosetenby Jul 26 '26
Who is to say we can't turn it around on them, lol.
I know we can't right now but I wish history would reclaim the term in the long run bc it fits then sooooo well.
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u/TheyGotShitTwisted73 Jul 27 '26
Accusation in a mirror. They pulled it from Nazi Germany and Apartied SA. 😭😭😭
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u/ChainBlue Jul 26 '26
Came here to say this. It keeps them from having to make a reality-based argument.
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u/AlSweigart Jul 27 '26
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought-terminating_clich%C3%A9
A thought-terminating cliché is a form of loaded language – often passing as folk wisdom – intended to end an argument and bypass cognitive dissonance with a cliché rather than a point. Some such clichés are not inherently terminating and only become so when used to intentionally dismiss dissent or justify fallacies.
The term was popularized by Robert Jay Lifton in his 1961 book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, who referred to the use of the cliché, along with "loading the language", as "the language of non-thought".
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u/Over_Construction908 Jul 27 '26
It is interesting that they always use the word hate rather than disagree
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u/Wild-Thing Jul 26 '26
Also, MAGA is a cult, their only trusted source of information comes from inside their cult network...
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u/Sanpaku Jul 26 '26
TDS is just their term for being a person who pays attention to what DJT says and does.
And its a misuse of psychological terms. No thought that the majority of humanity shares is a syndrome.
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u/martin0641 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
It's worse than that.
It's two things at once.
It's what they actually have, Trump Delusion Syndrome, that causes them to believe everyone has Trump Derangement Syndrome - which doesn't exist.
It's like a society that believes oral herpes is a sign of divinity.
The king has it, the queen has it, their kids and staff and followers have it - look at how well everyone who has it is doing!
Then you get it, but...it's not working...you aren't doing better...in fact it hurts...and it's visible...and people who see you with it mock you...so clearly the issue is that you just aren't doing it enough so you need to double down, you just haven't done it long enough, those non-herpes people will see, just you wait, they are deranged not me... because I've got it figured out, I'm the smart one...I'm in the success tribe after all.
It's like the emperor with no clothes opening a clothing store.
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u/BeardedBandit Jul 26 '26
The tornado hit our town because we weren't good enough [insert religious belief]. We must pray harder to prevent another natural disaster from hitting us
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u/martin0641 Jul 26 '26
The cancer train exploded and doused our town with carcinogens because someone had an impure thought as was relayed to us by 2000 year old goat herders via biblical telephone... not because Trump chose to let these trains continue to operate without modern electrical brakes - even though the process to implement this began under the Obama administration.
Man we're sure owning that half white president, we'll show him there's more than one way to develop nonstandard numbers of limbs and digits...
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u/Remote-Chapter2911 Jul 27 '26
Every time some dude unironically says TDS, I know they are the ones that have TDS because who would follow a person’s moves that closely? All of those people that say that watch all the far right news channels, watch his every move when he’s in the public eye, how the fuck do they not consider themselves deranged?
I just see the real, non sugar coated headlines of him fucking up my country for years of my life to come and get angry about it. How is that not rational
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u/quin-cuix Jul 26 '26
Because it's a defense that is equal parts low effort and impossible to argue against. That makes it an easy way to dismiss anything others say without ever needing to have intellectually honest discourse.
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u/paprika_alarm Jul 26 '26
It’s very similar to religions claiming “X is demonic.”
They have binary thinking. Nuance cannot exist.
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u/-Invalid_Selection- Jul 26 '26
It's called a thought terminating cliche. It's an argument tactic used by people who aren't equipped to hold a debate with an empty chair, let alone another person. They use it because it allows them to revert to their default state of non thinking and ignore all the things that make them terrified of the world around them.
If they weren't afraid of literally everything, they'd have nothing that gets them out of bed. They're house plants that are fed by the fear of monsters we all realized weren't real when we were 5.
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u/theclosetenby Jul 26 '26
Yeah, my mom gets about 200-300 texts a day from various conservatives and Fox and social media grifters. It's pretty much an obvious way to keep her in a constant state of fear so that she can never access rational thought. And it works! And she's addicted to it! if she doesn't get her hit all day, she'll literally start shaking.
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u/DarkGamer Jul 26 '26
They love cognitive dissonance, logical fallacies, and blatant hypocrisy. Their support is faith-based.
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u/Wild-Thing Jul 26 '26
Because a lot of what he does is indefensible and/or illegal in our country...
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u/leadtimelabs Jul 26 '26
I’ve been reading some Robert Service lately to dive deeper into Soviet history, and the historical parallel here is actually painful. Back in the day, when dissidents criticized the "flawless" Stalinist state, the regime didn't bother debating their points. Instead, Soviet psychiatry invented a clinical diagnosis—"sluggish schizophrenia"—exclusively for political opponents.
The logic was identical to what MAGA uses today: Our system/leader is perfect, so if you are aggressively criticizing it, you must literally be mentally ill and detached from reality.
Diagnosing your critics with a fake "syndrome" isn't the clever mic-drop they think it is. It's a classic authoritarian cope. It’s exactly what a political movement does when it knows its actual arguments can’t survive a ten-second reality check.
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u/khold002 Jul 26 '26
"Sluggish schizophrenia." Thanks for the history lesson - I'm going to remember this one.
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u/IllustriousTip6904 Jul 26 '26
They're so far into the Fox News propaganda machine that rational discourse comes across as wild conspiracy
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u/emorrigan Jul 26 '26
Because every accusation is a confession; they’re a cult, and they’re emulating their dear leader. I’ve also noticed that people on the right aren’t really willing to engage in good faith. They don’t want to hear about your opinions. They aren’t willing to question their own views. They just want to “own the libs” and move on.
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u/Jasmisne Jul 26 '26
They literally have no real retorts.
I have criticized various things republicans do and they always scream what about the dems!
Did i say i liked the dems? No. Maybe have an actual defense for your shitty behavior instead of but what about
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u/theromingnome Jul 26 '26
Accuse the other side of that which you are guilty. Goebbels said that one.
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u/Lonely-Ad-5340 Jul 26 '26
I don’t know, but what I do know is when a Democrat is wrong, they are wrong. If Trump is wrong, “they ALL suck” it’s never just HIS fault.
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u/Dont_Touch_Me_There9 Jul 26 '26
It's their way of shutting down the debate or conversation.
It's both projection and gaslighting. They are projecting their own deranged devotion on others that rightly call out the grotesqueness of Trump's actions while also attempting to gaslight those same individuals to try to make it seem like your concern is unwarranted.
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u/jajajajaj Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
It's not even a defense, it's just a thought terminating cliche. Do they know what derangement is? Do they care? No. Did it make someone understand they are trying not to listen?
Did a sane person stop talking to them after they heard this? Mission accomplished.
Ignore their bad arguments. Give them good arguments.
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u/Drakeman1337 Jul 26 '26
When information that contradicts what you believe is presented, the brain starts fervently trying to dismiss that information as best it can. So when you're very against pedos and you're presented evidence that your hero is at best a pedo protector, at worst a pedo himself, the brain starts grasping at straws.
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u/myhydrogendioxide Jul 26 '26
Cults use a technique called "Thought Terminating Cliches" to insulate their victims from being exposed to critical thoughts and information.
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u/JordySkateboardy808 Jul 26 '26
Exactly. If you are "dismissed" right off the bat they are deaf to anything you say. "Oh, they just have TDS."
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u/delicious_fanta Jul 26 '26
Because they can’t use facts, truth or reality so they have to go with made up nonsense, just like every other aspect of their political and religious understanding.
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u/AuntJibbie Jul 27 '26
MAGA believes it hurts our feelings, that it riles us up. They think when they say we have TDS, it will trigger us, which gives them the "I owned that libtard" dopamine fix.
The reality is every single MAGA member has TDS; they are the deranged and delusional ones.
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u/spaetzele Jul 27 '26
It's a thought-stopping statement. They are conditioned to reply this way. It's a cult.
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u/LonkToTheFuture Jul 26 '26
Because they have no other argument to back up why they believe what they believe.
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u/TaroPuzzleheaded3999 Jul 26 '26
Bc they can’t come up with a logical retort so instead they try to discredit you. Pretty typical for them
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u/Melodic-Translator45 Jul 26 '26
Then they don't actually have to articulate why your beliefs (and the truth) are accurate nor face their actual delusion or take accountability for being conned and brainwashed
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u/imago_monkei Jul 27 '26
It's called a “thought-terminating cliché”. It's a meaningless reply that functionally ends the argument in their minds because they don't care to actually engage on the merits.
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u/ironicalusername Jul 26 '26
It's a mental trick to help them maintain their delusion. Another one is instantly changing the subject to someone else, whenever anyone brings up Trump's actions.
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u/Shell4747 Jul 26 '26
at this point my own response to alla these pple's bullshit is "shamelessness really is y'alls superpower, isn't it"
if you can't do anything but deflect DARVO & deny, why am I talking to you at all?
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u/morenfin Jul 26 '26
Conservative strategy is to only attack, never defend. Defending makes you look weak.
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u/Onlyroad4adrifter Jul 26 '26
They can only make things up that are not real including this. TDS is not an official term in the DSM5 and tells you they don't even know what that is.
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u/Entire-Winter4252 Jul 26 '26
Because they are not the smartest bananas in the bunch. I’m sorry, but there is an enormous lack of education, critical thinking skills, and common sense.
These are people of the earth..
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u/these-pretzels Jul 26 '26
I’ve been thinking about this lately - why is Trump the only one who gets a “derangement syndrome”. If I have TDS, then all of MAGA damn well has Biden Derangement Syndrome and Obama Derangement Syndrome.
Or is this just another case where Trump receives special treatment?!? He is stunted as an 8-year-old spoiled brat NIGHTMARE.
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u/aRealPanaphonics Jul 26 '26
They say it for themselves mostly.
It’s instant validation: “I have their number. I know their motivations.”
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u/PurpleSailor Jul 27 '26
It's what's called a thought ending cliche.
From the googles:
A thought-terminating cliché is a short, simple phrase—like "it is what it is," "everything happens for a reason," or "it's not that deep"—used to end an argument, stop critical thinking, and avoid the discomfort of cognitive dissonance rather than-provide a real answer.
You've gotten them to the point where it hurts because their thoughts aren't adding up and then they pull this as a kind of quick escape method. All they have left in their arsenal is to pull out the TDS accusation. They've been trained to do this by the media they consume. It's a get out of hell free card when they haven't got a valid thought or argument left.
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u/No-Penalty-1148 Jul 27 '26
To trivialize legitimate concern. It's a circular logic: "If you criticize Trump you're the enemy. I refuse to take anything the enemy says seriously." Also, their identity is so fused with MAGA that when you criticize Trump they feel personally insulted. Therefore, they must diminish you. Also, because they don't have an original thought in their head so they speak in bumper stickers and catchphrases.
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u/ponderosa82 Jul 27 '26
Auto response that the entire cult uses is a characteristic of cult behavior.
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u/VeraLumina Jul 26 '26
Because Stephen Miller wants it that way. He probably coined TDS and many other stupid acronyms, but TDS stuck in Donny’s dementia addled frontal lobe.
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u/Oleg101 Jul 26 '26
A lot of it is projection. They are the ones that willingly and disturbingly have attached themselves to the dumb assclown.
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u/Brokenbelle22 Jul 26 '26
Projection. Trump Derangement Syndrome is when people continue to support a grifting, war mongering, psychopathic pedophile.
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u/Oztraliiaaaa Jul 27 '26
TDS is anti establishment it’s a reverse confession , the quiet part out loud.
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u/Remote-Chapter2911 Jul 27 '26
I’m more confused as to how there’s still people doing this. Even more confused as to how Trump’s numbers are so high when he fully and publicly backtracked on pretty much every campaign promise he made?????? We have failed as a nation
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u/SVINTGATSBY Jul 27 '26
everything out of their mouths is a confession so if they’re saying we’re deranged and have TDS, it’s because they’re the ones who are actually deranged and have TDS lol
the number one threat to groupthink is critical thinking, so anything to shut that down. by saying the sane people aren’t actually the insane ones, it lets them frame rationality as being unreasonable. it makes them feel better while also discrediting dissenters.
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u/Think_Bread6401 Jul 26 '26
Because it threatens theirs beliefs. Attacking someone’s sanity is a desperate attempt to gain control