Free Speech and Trump Derangement Syndrome

TDS is stupid by Daniel Gardner, Special to the Gazette

Last week I read Senator (R-LA) John Kennedy’s new book, “How to Test Negative for Stupid – And Why Washington Never Will.” The title is taken from one of his many witticisms. He’s one of the few people in America who can get away using the word “stupid” due to his transparent persona. That, and the fact that his targets for “stupid” are mostly politicians and those who vote for them. I’m so glad football and the World Series are on TV again. Neither of these two games involve discrimination. If it weren’t for discrimination TV and Cable news would have very few stories to tell. I resemble the way Kennedy describes his views about discrimination: “I don’t care how much you earn, where you live, what you drive, what color you are, whether you’re fat or thin, tall or short, man or woman, beautiful or average (like me). To a bear, we all taste like chicken.” I’ve never seen so much extreme discrimination in my life. I’m talking about Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). Evidently it’s highly contagious judging by how many average people suffer for speaking or wearing anything MAGA. TDS people don’t like anything President Trump does or says. Take Trump’s policy on energy. After 8 years of President Obama’s war on energy and high prices, Trump led America to become the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world. Trump’s leadership benefitted every American with lower energy prices. His policies also lowered CO2 levels until President Biden came in and wrecked everything Trump had achieved. Green people never acknowledged cleaner air during Trump’s first term, but touted Biden’s policies even when they failed miserably.

Finally, President Trump won his way back into the White House and began immediately to restore what Biden had nearly destroyed. Trump described his energy policy as “maximum production, maximum prosperity, and maximum power.”

In a national declaration October 17, 2025, President Trump wrote: “This month, we continue our crusade to bring back American energy dominance, uplift the American worker, protect the American industry, cherish American resources, and make America the most prosperous country on the face of the Earth. “NOW, THERE-FORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by the virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 2025 as the National Energy Dominance Month.”

In the meantime, President Trump has ended 8 wars abroad and led a worldwide entourage to Israel to celebrate a Middle East ceasefire and to begin a peace plan supported by nations and leaders around the world. Simultaneously he has continued working with presidents of Russia and Ukraine to end that war. He has also negotiated trade deals with nations around the globe bringing in trillions of dollars (with a T) as well as new manufacturing plants with good paying jobs for American workers.

Still, TDS people including a nearly unanimous Democratic Party deride him and blame him for real and imaginary problems. They can’t even acknowledge his accomplishments when Americans benefit financially, and the people of the world benefit from more peaceful relationships.

America still has problems. TDS is the most discriminatory and destructive problem America suffers from today. No doubt, Senator Kennedy would call that “stupid.” Page A2 Thursday, October 23, 2025 MAGNOLIA GAZETTE Thursday, October 23, 2025 Page A3 MAGNOLIA GAZETTE

Whoever is in power likes to use that power to shut the other side up.

In America, no government has the right to censor.

Politicians eager to shut the other side up should have paid attention to Charlie Kirk when, just a few months before he was killed, he said: “You should be allowed to say outrageous things! You should be allowed to say contrarian things. ... That is the bedrock of a liberal democracy.” STOSSEL