US Prez says Elon Musk has 'Trump Derangement Syndrome': What is it? List of people POTUS accused of having TDS

US President Donald Trump has accused billionaire Elon Musk of suffering from "Trump derangement syndrome," after the latter targeted him publically over the ‘big, beautiful’ tax and spending bill. Musk who led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a cost-cutting initiative in the Trump administration's second term turned a foe over Trump's disagreement on this bill.

The POTUS said, “He’s not the first – people leave my administration, and they love us, and then at some point they miss it so badly, and some of them embrace it, and some of them actually become hostile. I don’t know what it is. It’s sort of ‘Trump derangement syndrome,’ I guess they call it, but we have it with others too.”

Not only him but also Musk also used the term while giving an interview in February. He narrated an incident where he realised that “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” was a real thing. During a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity, Elon Musk, describing about his friend’s dinner party a month or two ago, compared Trump Derangement Syndrome with rabies. "This whole thing they call Trump Derangement Syndrome - you don’t realize how real it is until you see it. You can’t reason with people," Musk said.

Trump Derangement Syndrome

Trump derangement syndrome was first coined by Trump, which he explained as the instinctual negative and often violent reaction to any supportive statement or event related to him. Some people trace its roots to “Bush Derangement Syndrome,” coined by late conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer in 2003.It also finds its mention in the early 2000s when the idea of Trump as president was been discussed in late-night comedy shows in the US.

Earlier this year, a bill was also proposed in Minnesota seeking to classify intense opposition to Trump - “Trump derangement syndrome” - as a mental health condition. The legislation specifically described this condition as involving "verbal expressions of intense hostility toward" Donald Trump and “overt acts of aggression and violence against anyone supporting Trump or anything that symbolises Trump.”

U.S. Representative Warren Davidson of Ohio introduced a bill in May 2025 that would require the National Institutes of Health to study Trump derangement syndrome and report annually to Congress. Davidson said "TDS has divided families, the country, and led to nationwide violence — including two assassination attempts on President Trump.

Who are the others that POTUS has accused of having ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’

1. In 2018, after the Russia–United States summit in Helsinki, Trump used the term in a tweet, saying "Some people HATE the fact that I got along well with President Putin of Russia. They would rather go to war than see this. It's called Trump Derangement Syndrome!"
   
2. In the same year, Trump praised Alan Dershowitz's book 'The Case Against Impeaching Trump' and urged "all people with Trump Derangement Syndrome to read" it.
   
3. In August 2018, Trump White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders used the term in a tweet: "Trump Derangement Syndrome is becoming a major epidemic among Democrats. Instead of freaking out about the booming Trump economy why not celebrate it?"
   
4. In October 2024, Trump dismissed his former chief of staff John F Kelly as having TDS after he branded the president a 'fascist.'
   
5. In February 2025, Elon Musk used the erm in a Fox News interview and said that he "adored the left" till they were infected by TDS.
   
6. Trump angrily criticized US District Judge James Boasberg, calling him "disgraceful" and accused him of suffering from a "MASSIVE" Trump derangement syndrome, after the judge was assigned to oversee the Signalgate scandal.
   
7. Trump also criticized four Republican Senators Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul who indicated they will join Democrats in voting for a joint resolution to end the national emergency declared by him to undo Trump tariffs. "What is wrong with them, other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly known as TDS?" said Trump in Truth Social post.