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Diagnostic Criteria

1.

Mild Case

2.

Moderate Case

3.

Severe Case

Mild Case

As evidenced by 3 or more of the following: 

  • Obsession with Donald Trump and simmering anger towards anyone (even strangers) who might like him.

  • Reeling at the mention of Trump’s name or songs associated with him – like “YMCA” and “God Bless the USA” - with a need to speak up with criticisms and expletives.      

  • Yelling or throwing something at the TV when Trump appears.                                 

  • Stammering when asked what’s not to like about Trump and an inability to come up with anything that makes reasonable sense.

  • Incapacity to be able to state what policy is objectionable - or why. Deflecting instead with statements like, “Oh, you know, he’s just awful!”   

  • Tenuous ability to function socially and hold conversations with Trump supporters without spontaneously combusting, despite one’s underlying outrage.                          

  • Expressing snarky hatred of Trump in TikTok rants, other social media posts or public forums.

​*Examples: 

-Pop superstar Madonna made headlines for her speech at the Women’s Pussyhat March in January 2017. Wearing a black pussyhat, she shouted to the crowd, “The revolution starts here…. I’m outraged.... Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House…. " She has reignited her campaign against Trump for his second term. 
 

-Legendary newsman, Dan Rather, posted a so-called ‘Turkish proverb’ on his Facebook page, and caused an explosion on the Internet. He wrote, “When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king, the palace instead becomes a circus.” This pithy comment is but one example of Rather’s evergreen attacks on Trump, whom he calls a “vile man.”

-Those who celebrated the flash floods in Texas that caused more than 100 deaths, including children at Camp Mystic on July 4th weekend, 2025. Texas pediatrician Dr Christina Propst, in the midst of tragedy, posted this to Facebook: “May all visitors, children, non-MAGA voters and pets be safe and dry… MAGA voted to gut FEMA. They deny climate change. May they get what they voted for. Bless their hearts.” Sade Perkins, a Houston mayoral appointee and Princeton fellow, wrote on TikTok, “Maybe it was gods (sic) will to wash them lil cu*t$ away.” After their posts went viral, they were fired, but not before adding to the misery of the victims’ families and the general public. 

-Some musicians are afflicted with TDS and gleefully spread their sour notes about Trump to their fans. Bruce Springsteen, for example, on his Land of Hope and Dreams Tour, performed a setlist every night, in which he calls Trump a “moron” and “treasonous.” He even went so far as to record it as an EP for those who weren’t in the audience. Getting their message across by a different approach, the leader of the alternative rock band Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, has told Trump voters to stay away from their shows “forever!... Refunds are available.”

​

​​-Raphael Glucksmann, a French politician, member of the European Parliament, has demanded the return of the Statue of Liberty because, in his opinion, “Trump’s America” has strayed from the values represented by the iconic statue. Monsieur Glucksmann exemplifies how TDS has spread internationally.

 

-It may be too early to be certain if Robert Prevost, aka Pope Leo XIV, is suffering from TDS. However, his history of tweets on X were critical of Trump. Pope Francis, whose conflicts with JD Vance made headlines, handpicked the cardinals who chose Prevost. And so far, Pope Leo XIV is following in his predecessor’s anti-Trump footsteps, even speaking at an event in Chicago to draw attention away from Trump’s June 14th birthday event in Washington, DC. 

 

-Alec Baldwin portrayed Trump on Saturday Night Live between 2016-2020. Reflecting upon it, he said, “I don't think I did a very good job in impersonating Trump. I gave Trump what he deserved…. I wanted Trump to be a cartoon. I wanted to take Trump to another level of kind of madness…. Trump is a guy who embodies everything you don't want in the president of the United States."

​

-Kathy, Bill Maher’s sister, has TDS, according to him. He’s said, “We were both raised by liberal parents…. but my sister is like, MSNBC is on all day….  So, when I saw Trump, she just really didn’t want to talk to me.” He asked her, “Could we just give one minute to: it’s a little impressive that your brother just had a private dinner with the President of the United States?” Bill Maher, himself, doesn’t actually have TDS because, although he has railed loudly against Trump’s policies, he doesn’t hate him personally. Maher, a TV host and comedian, has called Trump “gracious and measured” and far more “self-aware” in private than the “crazy person” he plays on television. 

​

​-Molly McNearney, Jimmy Kimmel’s wife and head writer/executive producer of his show, recounts that, although she bought her father a Rush Limbaugh tie when she was in high school, she is avidly anti-Trump. She unhesitatingly admits that she’s now angry all the time and has shunned her relatives for voting for Trump, despite her having begged them not to in 2024.  

 

-TikTok Influencer Harry Sisson, who is known for his many anti-Trump posts, and posts in support of Joe Biden since high school. He has been a rising star in Democratic circles and has met former Presidents Barak Obama and Joe Biden. He also supported Kamala Harris.

​

-Toure’ (Neblett) is an American writer, music journalist, cultural critic, podcaster, and television personality. He’s best known for clashing with panelists by making unfounded derogatory claims about Trump. For example, he caused pandemonium on a CNN “Newsnight” panel by insisting that Trump was not shot in the ear at the Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally. “He supposedly got shot in the ear. We never heard from his doctors about that,” he argued loudly, refusing to be corrected by the other panelists.

​

-Alexis Lawler, a labor and delivery nurse at Baptist Health Boca Raton Regional Hospital, posted a TikTok video during White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s pregnancy, saying, “It gives me great joy to wish Karoline Leavitt a fourth-degree tear (a severe childbirth injury).” She was subsequently fired. 

​

-Erik Martindale, a Florida nurse anesthetist, lost his nursing license after posting a social media statement declaring, “I will not perform anesthesia for any surgeries or procedures for MAGA” patients. Martindale claims that he relinquished his license rather than face formal disciplinary revocation. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that Martindale’s license was revoked with zero tolerance for political discrimination in healthcare. Martindale then moved to Indiana without notifying the Florida Board of Nursing.

​

-In a similar example of medical practitioners putting their politics ahead of their oath to ‘do no harm’, three NYPD plainclothes detectives were mistaken for ICE agents when they sought treatment, after being spat on by a drug suspect. They were rudely asked, by Emergency Room staff, to leave NYU Langone/Cobble Hill Hospital and seek treatment elsewhere. The hospital later apologized.

​

-Jens Galschiot, a Danish artist, created a larger-than-life grotesque sculpture, mocking President Trump in 2026, called The Orange Plague (aka The King of Injustice). Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes, it purports to be a naked Trump, in gold leaf, carrying a golf club, golf ball and the scales of justice. He sits heavily on a smaller man’s shoulders. Displayed in Europe and on tour, it now sits at the European Parliament.

​

-Jelly Roll (aka Jason DeFord), a rapper, singer and songwriter, with a history of drugs and incarceration, wants people to believe he’s “down the middle” politically. But, when he guest-hosted on Jimmy Kimmel Live! his monologues were streams of biting anti-Trump jokes. Florida Republican Representative Jimmy Patronis accused him of TDS.

​

-John Leguizamo, a Colombian-born comedian and actor, immigrated to America with his family when he was four years old, and became an American citizen. He not only expresses animosity towards Trump’s policies on Latino immigration, he takes aim at Trump himself, such as by boycotting Saturday Night Live since Trump hosted in 2015, and mocking Trump in media interviews. In a famous 2019 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, for example, Leguizamo said, “He makes me so angry, he makes me horny,” claiming his rage toward Trump turns into testosterone.

Moderate Case

As evidenced by at least 1 or more mild symptoms and 2 or more of the following:

  • The individual’s life has been overtaken by TDS - interfering with work, family and other relationships and responsibilities. 

  • A degree of obsession with Trump as a villain archetype that causes others to question one’s connection to reality. 

  • Profound inability to distinguish between what one doesn’t like about Trump’s policies from what one doesn’t like about him personally – and a hair trigger temper outburst towards anyone who dares question this. 

  • An inability to calm oneself to prevent lashing out verbally and physically against supporters of the President.

  • Prioritizing actions to protest against Trump - such as joining marches or writing Op Eds against him. 

  • Threatening, following or assaulting people who wear MAGA hats, other MAGA clothing or carry MAGA collectibles.      

  • Committing road rage upon seeing a Trump bumper sticker on a vehicle

  • Indulging in – and getting pleasure from - fantasies of Trump dying. 

 

*Examples:                                                                                                                             -Charles ‘Chuck’ Lorre, television producer, writer and director has said, “I am wired on some deep level to seek out something to be… obsessed about.” He’s found Trump and seizes opportunities to vent vulgar commentary about him. At Project Angel Food’s Angel Awards, for example, Lorre said, “I wake up every morning, turn on CNN to see if the President… had a heart attack while straining to take a dump.” A White House spokesman suggested that Mr. Lorre, “immediately seek psychiatric help to treat his… case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Lorre responded on one of his Vanity Cards, “I don’t disagree…. I would be up for a chat with a trained professional.” Indeed, once TDS is included in the DSM, it will be a lot easier for him and others to get help.

​

-Jimmy Kimmel, host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC, has denigrated Trump ever since he appeared on the show as a presidential candidate in 2015. Kimmel claims, “I laugh when people say, ‘Oh, you’ve got Trump Derangement Syndrome’. If you’re a reasonable person, you should have Trump Derangement Syndrome.” After blaming MAGA for the death of Charlie Kirk, his show was temporarily suspended and is still wavering. Yet he continues to flaunt his TDS in opening monologues and by having entertainers, known for their TDS, substitute for him when he takes a break. 

​

-The Ladies of “The View” - led by Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar - have turned their once-relevant, thoughtful show into a Trump hate fest to incite viewers. Whoopi, the ringleader, began hating Trump when he went on the show in 2011 and mentioned that he wanted to see Obama’s birth certificate. Joy has called him the “most dangerous” president in her lifetime, and more. 

​

-Former President Barak Obama, a political foe, has stooped far below generally accepted political discourse to focus on Trump’s anatomy. Speaking at the Democratic National Convention, Obama said Trump has a “weird obsession with crowd sizes!” as he moved his hands apart to indicate a measure of size. His thinly veiled allusion revealed the major cause of TDS in some men, intimidation by Trump’s Alpha-Male status.                                                                       

​ -Former Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz similarly, as a counter-offensive, claimed that his masculinity “scares” MAGA supporters. Walz said defensively “They know I can fix a truck.” “It baffled me how much time they spent trying to attack me that I was not masculine enough.” People responded online by calling him “delusional.”

 

 -Cher, a singer and actress, has long ‘sung’ wild criticisms against Trump, often in very inappropriate places. For example, she startled attendees at a world youth summit by calling him an “a**hole” and saying “I am truly traumatized by him.” On another occasion Cher said, "I almost got an ulcer the last time… This time, I will leave." She vowed to go to Jupiter if Trump was elected, but so far hasn’t fled anywhere. 

 

-Presidents of Colleges who would rather stand up for antisemitism (which previously would have been untenable to them) than give in to Trump, including: Harvard’s Claudine Gay, University of Pennsylvania’s Liz Magill and Columbia’s Minouche Shafik.

​

-A freelance creative director (Alberta Testanero) riding a No. 6 NYC subway train, ranted at a young man wearing a MAGA hat, calling him “Racist” and trying to enlist fellow riders to torment him. Intent upon snatching his hat, she ran after him when he got off, and chased him down the subway platform until she face-planted after barely missing the hat.

​

-Stephen King, renowned horror novelist, forewarned, in his 1979 novel, The Dead Zone, that a man would become President who would lead America into nuclear war. Though he denies having psychic powers that predicted Trump’s presidency, he’s happy to flaunt similarities with his huckster character, Greg Stillson, an evil rising politician. An outspoken critic of Trump from before his first term, King signed an open letter opposing his candidacy and says Trump’s presidency is even scarier than his novels. 

​

-Scott Pelley, host of “60 Minutes,” allowed his TDS to jeopardize his career by providing disingenuous advice in his commencement speech at Wake Forest University. He warned graduates, “Freedom of speech is under attack!” blatantly referring to Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount (CBS’ parent company) for “60 Minutes” having deceptively edited their interview with Kamala Harris. 

​

-Joy Reid is a black political commentator, author of The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story, and host of “The Reid Out,” until it was cancelled by MSNBC. One example of her biased emotionality towards Trump is when she adopted his hairstyle and then shaved her head when she was accused of ‘stealing’ it.

​

-The FEMA supervisor, Marn’i’ Washington, who told a disaster relief team to avoid providing assistance to hurricane-ravaged homes with MAGA signs out front, during Hurricane Milton in Florida in 2024. She, and three other employees, were ultimately fired, but not before the damage was done. 

​

-Stephen Colbert is host of “The Late Show” on CBS, with a focus on political satire that targeted Trump for years. His show was cancelled shortly after CBS’ parent company, Paramount, settled a defamation suit with Trump for millions and Colbert called it a “big fat bribe.” But, since the show still has until May 2026, he will undoubtedly use this time to continue to skewer President Trump.  

​

-People who make aggressive calls to action, such as on the Instagram page “libfreakouts,” where a woman called for a “Debt Strike 2025!” She starts her rant with, “I know I’m insane…” and shouts at everyone to “stop paying your bills... if they don’t meet our demands!” which include “abolish ICE!” “I want critical race theory in the classroom!” “We need to literally be delusional!”

​

-Dorothy Owen, who was caught on tape smearing dog feces on an American flag-wrapped cybertruck, parked in Chicago, that had Donald Trump’s gold-leaf signature on the tailgate. The Tesla’s camera captured her in the act and, when posted, led online sleuths to identify her as the owner of a local doggy daycare. 

​

-Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, and Presidential hopeful, has seized on TDS as his campaign strategy. Newsom takes cruel childish jabs at Trump, that are more like a middle school delinquent than a serious political contender. For example, claiming to have caught Trump falling asleep, he calls him ‘The Nodfather’ and ‘Dozy Don’. Escalating his attacks, Newsom now claims that Trump is “mentally ill” and has called for the 25th Amendment.

​

-Jim Acosta, former CNN Chief White House correspondent, known for his clashes with Trump at Press Briefings, was about to be moved to a lesser time slot after Trump’s 2025 Inauguration. He signed off the air with an anti-Trump rant, which included, “It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant.” Then, as an independent journalist, he continued trolling Trump, with reports mocking his golden statue at Trump National Doral golf club. Acosta has claimed that Trump suffers from Acosta Derangement Syndrome. 

​

-Debra Messing, who starred in the TV show “Will and Grace,” began her public feud with Donald Trump when the show’s revival in 2017 dedicated many episodes to mocking him, such as comparing his skin tone to Cheetos. In 2019, she (and her costar) asked The Hollywood Reporter to publish the names of attendees of a Beverly Hills fundraiser for Trump, so that she could create a list of people she didn’t want to work with, a kind of personal ‘blacklist’. 

​

-Margaret Cho, although having been invited to be on The Apprentice because Trump was then a fan, she’s no fan of his. Indeed, this actress-comedienne has wished him dead. When Senator Lindsey Graham died, she released an Instagram video in which she said, “So, it’s Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham… it does happen in threes. Hope.” She didn’t name the third person, however, her Instagram displayed “#fdt” and she has never made a secret of her disdain for Trump.


-Kaitlyn Tracey is a Canadian woman, living with her American husband, Matthew Geroni, in New Jersey. On the July 4th weekend 2026, she accosted and assaulted a group of teen girls on the Jersey Shore boardwalk, because they were wearing patriotic “Trump” and “MAGA” clothing. She was arrested and is set to be deported for overstaying her visa. 


-Matthew Geroni, Kaitlyn’s husband, has TDS in his own right. He posts TikTok videos of himself praying with text superimposed that says, “Praying the entire Trump family gets cancer. And I mean everybody, like little kids and s—t.” Another one of his videos states, “Praying the next assassination attempt works.”


-Marjorie Taylor Greene, once a supporter of Trump, had a public falling out with him and resigned from the House of Representatives. She denies having Trump Derangement Syndrome, and instead claims she has Trump Disappointment Syndrome. However, she’s said, "I refuse to be a 'battered wife' hoping it all goes away and gets better," which indicates an emotional, rather than rational reaction to Trump. Recently, she joined Tucker Carlson to plot a new political party. 

​

-George Conway, an attorney, and Kellyanne Conway, divorced after 22 years of marriage and 4 children. It was one of the first examples of TDS causing divorce. Kellyanne worked for Trump from 2016-2020, as campaign manager and then Counselor for the President. George was jealous of the attention and devotion that Kellyanne gave Trump. Like a man-scorned, George tried to take Trump down by activism, including founding the Lincoln Project.
 

Severe Case

As evidenced by 1 or more mild symptoms, 1 or more moderate symptoms and 1 or more of the following: 

  • Quitting one’s job or leaving one’s family to be able to work full-time trying to stop Trump.

  • Leaving the U.S. in protest of Trump and establishing residence in another country. 

  • Impaired reality testing: on the spectrum from borderline to psychotic

  • Doing something illegal to try to stop Trump - such as bribing a judge to stop one of his Executive Orders. 

  • Violent ideation with delusions of heroism or martyrdom in the name of saving democracy.
    -Attacking someone’s personal Tesla, a Tesla showroom or manufacturing facility by 

  • Attacking someone’s personal Tesla, a Tesla showroom or manufacturing facility by vandalism, arson, gunshots, Molotov cocktails or the like because Elon Musk, Tesla’s co-founder and CEO, was appointed by President Trump as the head of DOGE. Some incidents are being investigated as domestic terrorism and hate crimes.

  • Doxxing Trump supporters. Doxxing is the act of revealing personal information about someone online without their consent, and with nefarious intent. Doxxing can incite swatting. Swatting Trump supporters by calling the police and making false reports of violent crimes happening at their home, causing the police to respond with guns blazing, terrifying the inhabitants and putting all at risk of inadvertent death. Swatting is considered a crime.

  • Fantasizing about, or taking steps towards, harming Trump oneself, joining a nefarious group plotting harm to Trump, or arranging for someone else to harm Trump, despite knowing that punishment would be severe.​

*Examples:
-Mary Trump, President Trump’s niece, continues to be the most painful thorn in his side because she’s family, albeit estranged. Her TDS began when she was 6 years old and he was allegedly ‘whipping baseballs’ at her, causing her to fear broken bones. She’s an author of two purportedly tell-all books about Trump, and hopes her degree in psychology will add gravitas to them. But she is not a ‘licensed’ psychologist and the books are hampered by her own distorted projections. 

​

-Rosie O’Donnell first expressed her over-the-top hatred towards Trump when she hosted The View in 2006, and criticized him for purporting to be a “moral authority” over Miss USA. Rosie has continued emotional protests against him, and finally moved to Ireland when Trump won his second term. She has publicly admitted that even her therapist is tired of her bottomless hatred for Trump. “My therapist said, ‘Why are you so upset?’ And I said to her, ‘Why are you not?’” In a recent rally in NYC, Rosie doubled down and called him a “very sick and dangerous man” who “should be in prison.”

​

-Ellen DeGeneres has acknowledged that when she moved to England (with her wife, Portia de Rossi), it was to be a part-time residence. But, as soon as Trump won re-election, they decided to make it permanent. 

​

-Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde used her opportunity at the National Prayer Service, following the Inauguration, to spread hate against Trump, rather than love of God, and quoted political rhetoric rather than the Bible. 

​

-Fani Willis, District Attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, indicted Trump, on charges of racketeering and other crimes, for questioning the 2020 election results. Her obsession with prosecuting Trump caused her to appoint her paramour Nathan Wade as special prosecutor. A Georgia appeals court subsequently disqualified her from the case, so she filed an appeal with the Georgia Supreme Court, which has yet to rule.

​

-Robert DeNiro, actor, producer and film director has taken almost every opportunity, since 2011, to not simply accept awards and give speeches gracefully, but to use them to hurl expletive-laden insults against Trump, such as calling him “a bullshit artist,” and saying, “I’d like to punch him in the face.” While hosting the Tony Awards, he said, “F**k Trump” and basked in a standing ovation. Recently, he’s also been taking his anti-Trump act on the road, speaking at No Kings rallies and grassroots events.  His speeches have the power to incite violence, not only by his words, but by his memorable iconic performance in “Taxi Driver,” the film that drove John Hinckley, Jr. to try to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. De Niro played the title character, who plots to assassinate a presidential candidate.  

​​

-New York Attorney General Letitia James campaigned on a platform of targeting Trump, and pursued this once she got in office. Having promised to ‘get Trump’, she filed 21 lawsuits against him, singling him out for prosecution, in what’s been called ‘lawfare’.


-Judges across America who put aside their oath of office, by which they swore to uphold the Constitution, in order to impulsively re-interpret laws or make new laws, so they can oppose Trump’s policies. For example, these include judges who: released foreign leaders of university riots, from immigration detention; who defied Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to prevent the deportation of migrants; and who helped illegal aliens escape from ICE.


-Billionaire Walmart heiress, Christy Walton, has taken out full-page ads to promote nationwide anti-Trump protests, after aligning herself with the ‘No Kings’ movement. This group also includes Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the organizations partnering with No Kings to foment protests against Trump.


-Tucker Carlson, the former FOX NEWS host, once shared a powerful political alliance with Trump, and used to vigorously call out others as suffering from TDS. However, he then did a complete reversal, first privately, in a 2021 leaked text, in which he wrote that he “hated him passionately,” and subsequently expressing remorse publicly for misleading people with his previous support of Trump. He continues to bash Trump on his podcast, The Tucker Carlson show, and has gathered others with TDS to form a new political party – including Marjorie Taylor Greene and Joe Kent. 


-Zohran Mamdani, newly elected Mayor of New York City, ran on a platform of TDS, calling himself “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.” In his victory speech, Mamdani said, “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him it is the city that gave rise to him.” He recently acted like a ‘good little boy’ when meeting Trump at the White House, but only to try to get help from him, and in subsequent Trump-Mamdani meetings he’s been very disingenuous and his body language gives him away.


-Jussie Smollett, a black actor, was known for his role on “Empire”, but became even more famous for the hate crime hoax he perpetrated on the streets of Chicago, where he claimed two white men, wearing red hats, and yelling, “This is MAGA country!” attacked him and placed a noose around his neck. This was ultimately proven to be a fake racist/homophobic ‘crime’ impugning Donald Trump. 


-Natalie Greene, a Jussie Smollett copycat, former glamorous law student and New Jersey GOP aide, paid a fetish artist $500 to slash gruesome wounds into her face, neck, chest, back and shoulders, so she could stage a hoax attack on herself. She claimed three assailants held her at gunpoint, hog-tied her, mutilated her skin, and wrote “Trump Whore” on her stomach. Greene was arrested, charged with conspiracy to convey false statements and making false statements to federal law enforcement. She has since been granted supervised release and ordered into inpatient mental health treatment while awaiting trial. 


-Kris Harrison fatally shot his daughter, Lucy Harrison, 23, who was visiting him in Texas from the UK, after they had a “big argument” about President Trump a few days before the Inauguration for his second term. Kris admits that he is an alcoholic, but lied to the police about drinking that day and denies pulling the trigger. A Grand Jury failed to indict him, but Lucy’s mom has gathered experts who say the father is guilty of a criminal offense, and she is trying to get the case reopened. This case is proof that TDS destroys families – sometimes literally. 


 -Women following the ‘MATGA’ (Make Aqua Tofana Great Again) trend. Aqua Tofana is a historical poison, originally used to help women escape abusive relationships. It is not known how many actually followed through with poisoning their man to avenge Trump, but millions have followed TikTok posts encouraging them to do so, or get an Aqua Tofana tattoo, or start a garden of poisonous plants….

 

-Nationwide attacks on Teslas - from a California man arrested for keying a Tesla in a Costco parking lot to a man throwing Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership in Oregon, to a man accused of torching a Tesla charging station and spray-painting profane messages in South Carolina.      


-Stalkers and a would-be assassin have repeatedly heckled and threatened VP JD Vance, including while watching a concert with his wife at the Kennedy Center, and while visiting Disneyland with his children. Would-be assassin, Marco Antonio Aguayo, 22, posted threats on social media claiming pipe bombs had been planted at Disneyland. He wrote, “Good luck finding all of them on time there will be bloodshed.”     Aguayo was charged with a single count of threatening the president and successors to the presidency.
 

Trump Assassination Provocateurs

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-Comedian Kathy Griffin thought it was a riot to post photographs of herself holding up a bloody effigy of Donald Trump’s severed head. She’s admitted this mask covered in ketchup was “to shame him.” She apologized and then retracted her apology. To further ‘capitalize’ on this, she did a worldwide comedy tour entitled “Laugh Your Head Off.” But she wasn’t laughing when Federal officials put her on the No-Fly List and threatened to charge her with conspiracy to assassinate the President. 


-Former FBI Director, James Comey, has long suffered from TDS, as evidenced by the way he dismissed Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, yet relentlessly probed the RussiaGate hoax. It accelerated after Trump fired him and came to a head with an Instagram post in May, 2025, in which he pretended to come across a “Cool shell formation on my beach walk” that read “86 47.” Despite Comey and others downplaying the significance of “86” as slang for only discontinued items or ejecting a patron, its meaning in law enforcement, military and mafia circles is “to have someone killed;” and 47 refers to the 47th President. Comey’s allegedly innocent post has unleashed a tsunami of copycat threats. 


-Robert/Robin Westman, the trans mass shooter at the Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in August 2025, wrote "kill Donald Trump" on gun magazines and included anti-Trump statements in a manifesto. Authorities are investigating this as an act of domestic terrorism and an anti-Catholic hate crime. So, he wasn’t purely motivated by TDS. However, Trump was a significant target of his hatred.


-Morgan L. Morrow, a 39-year-old West Virginia librarian, hatched a plot to recruit someone to kill President Trump. She posted a video on TikTok, captioned “Surely a sniper with a terminal illness can’t be a big ask out of 343 million.” On January 25, 2026, she was arrested on charges of making terroristic threats, but they were dismissed without prejudice because she was not properly read her Miranda rights before she confessed.  


-Benjamin Azariah Southworth, a 40-year-old gay Christian podcaster was arrested by FBI agents in Los Angeles in September 2026, and charged with making threats against President Trump in online videos, texts and social media posts urging people to “Kill Donald Trump.” In one video he is portrayed as taking a knife to Trump’s head. He also sold stickers featuring a mouse with the words “Kill Trump.” He pleaded “not guilty,” and is currently in federal custody held without bond, awaiting trial. Southworth called Cole Tomas Allen, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner would-be assassin, a “hero,” though he was “outraged that Donald Trump isn't dead.”

 

Possible Would-Be Assassins – Under Investigation

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-Melvin Eng, 46, a New York Police Department officer out on sick leave, showed up at the Ryder Cup at the Bethpage Black golf tournament on Long Island, in tactical gear, on September 26, 2025. He claimed he was a part of Trump’s security team, but was caught when he dropped a gun magazine in front of working security. He was suspended without pay by the NYPD and faced administrative charges. 


-Austin Tucker Martin, 21, armed with a gas can and shotgun, was shot dead by Secret Service agents, after crashing the security perimeter at Mar-a-Lago on February 22, 2026. Trump was in Washington, D.C. 


-Jeanine John Taele, 38, a decorated ex-Marine, was arrested at the Trump National Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, on August 2, 2026, when he visited there for a second day as Trump was soon to appear at the Republican National Committee dinner. He was heavily armed and pretending to be a “security protection agent.” He was found to have notebooks containing “concerning statements.” So far, he has been charged with weapons violations and has pleaded not guilty. 

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-There have been at least five publicly confirmed assassination attempts on Trump’s life, as well as other security incidents. 


---On June 18, 2016, at a rally for Trump’s campaign at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Nevada, Michael Steven Sandford, 20, a British citizen, attempted to grab a police officer’s gun to shoot Trump. He was arrested, took a plea deal and was given a sentence of only 12 months and 1 day because of his psychiatric problems – including Asperger’s, OCD, anorexia, anxiety and suicidal ideation. He told authorities he’d expected to die in the attempt. His family said he’d always been “a very quiet lad”, and an assassination attempt was totally out of character. They believe he must have been groomed or coerced. Michael said he’d been contemplating killing Trump for a year, and went to a gun range the day before. “My friends had said Trump needed to be stopped. They said he was going to destroy the country, but it was the voices in my head which were telling me to kill him.” He was deported to the UK in May 2017.


---On September 6, 2017, in North Dakota, where Trump was due to give a speech at Andeavor Refinery, Gregory Lee Leingang, 42, stole a forklift and attempted to drive it toward the presidential motorcade, intending to kill Trump by flipping his limousine with the stolen forklift. However, his plot was foiled when the forklift got stuck. Leingang pleaded guilty, but told the court he had been diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder, and was suffering a psychiatric crisis during the incident. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, for the assassination attempt and related charges. 


---On July 13, 2024, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, shot at Trump from a rooftop, and struck his right ear. Secret Service surrounded Trump and pushed him down to protect him. But Trump stood up and yelled, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” This has been the most serious attempt thus far, since the bullet was a hair’s breadth from entering his brain. However, there are some with TDS who still deny he was hit by a bullet and refuse to believe how close it came to killing him. Crooks's father admits that he saw his son’s mental health declining before the shooting, including talking to himself and dancing around his bedroom. His family has a history of mental health and addiction issues. Crooks’ online presence reveals his turnaround from being a Trump supporter to hating him and endorsing political violence. There are many other newly discovered details currently under investigation. 


---On September 15, 2024, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, hiding in the bushes with a rifle at Trump International Golf Club, in West Palm Beach, Florida, was spotted by the Secret Service, who fired at him before he could take a shot at Trump, playing golf nearby. In the preceding month, Routh had stalked Trump near his golf course and Mar-a-Lago residence. He pled ‘not guilty’ to five federal charges, including attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate. Routh wrote a note comparing himself to Thomas Matthew Crooks, claiming they were both “ready to die for freedom and democracy." Some mental health experts called him “delusional.” While the guilty verdict was being read, he attempted to stab himself in the neck. He was sentenced to life in prison. 


-Cole Tomas Allen, 31, on April 25, 2026 infiltrated the security area of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and gunshots rang out, causing Trump, Melania and other guests to be frightened and hurriedly evacuated. A manifesto attributed to Allen referred to himself as the “Friendly Federal Assassin” and, though he did not name Trump, wrote, “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.” He pled “not guilty” to four charges, including attempting to assassinate a U.S. president.


-These attempts have inspired copycat would-be assassins like Wisconsin teen, Nikita Casap, who killed his parents in 2025 to get his inheritance and freedom to pursue his plot to assassinate President Trump. Encouraged by the White Supremacist Terrorgram Network, he was in communication with co-conspirators in Ukraine and Russia, until he was caught when law enforcement discovered his parents’ bodies and sentenced to life in prison. 

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-Terrorist leaders, like Sa’ad bin Atef al-Awlaki, head of the group al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), issued a propaganda video calling for the assassination of President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and other top officials. Then two Grand Ayatollahs in Iran, Naser Makarem Shirazi and Hossein Nouri Hamedani, issued fatwas against Trump, calling for his assassination, as well. With the explosion of Trump Derangement Syndrome in America, these terrorist threats have multiplied. 


-Iranian assassination threats might be easy to dismiss as simply part of the current war, but their tactics have become more personal, similar to the personal nature of TDS, rather than typical wartime intimidation. For example, in January 2026, Iranian state-run TV aired footage of President Donald Trump from the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, sending a clear message that they support someone finishing the job. Then in July 2026, billboards were set up in Tehran with portraits of Trump and his family above coffins draped in American flags. Next, Iran released videos entitled “Where to Kill Melania” and “Where to Kill Barron Trump.”
 

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