Well, you certainly have to say this much for the Trump Derangement Syndrome crowd: They’ve lost none of their theatricality over the past eight years.
In a series of viral videos from a conservative social media personality at a rally for Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden in Portland, Oregon, a woman managed to make a caricature of herself by going on a rant against the man’s American flag hat, insulting the man’s dead mother, and demanding he “call [her] sweetheart.”
So, yeah, normal stuff all around.
The videos were posted by David Medina, one of Portland’s few conservatives. To be fair to the unidentified TDS-affected woman in the clip, the beginning of their interaction isn’t available on either his YouTube channel or on X, so there might have been a bit of a more pleasant exchange before things turned truculent.
But truculent they did indeed turn.
The first clip began as the woman very affectedly grasped at her heart while Mr. Medina asked her why she gets so emotional.
“Stop, let’s just have a conversation,” he said.
He did have a conversation with another man in the picture, also unidentified, but the woman again got involved and pointed to his cap, asking, “What’s your hat?”
“It’s just a U.S. flag with the hunter stuff,” he said. (“The hunter stuff” refers to silhouettes of animals hunters usually bag, which make up the stripes on the flag patch.)
Do you find it alarming that this woman used to be a nurse?
Yes: 100% (4 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
“It’s a hunter’s hat,” he said. “It’s not political, I promise.”
“It looks political,” she said.
“It’s not political, I promise,” he said. “This is just a brand.”
“Then why are you wearing it?” she asked.
Well, because it was cold, duh: The same reason why she was wearing a coat. But the woman went on to say that she found it “very disrespectful” and since her “parents were both in World War II … I think that you’re trying to make a statement” — that she didn’t like.
This went on for way longer than it should have, with the woman mocking him for being “innocent” of any political motivations.
“Honey, come on. Give me a break. Pretend I’m your mama,” she said.
“OK, I will. My mom died last year,” Medina responded. “So I would love that.”
“I am so sorry,” the woman said in a tone that didn’t exactly sound, shall we say, particularly remorseful. A lot of ridiculousness continued to ensue, along with complaints about Elon Musk and an insistence that Medina not call her “ma’am.”
“Call me sweetheart,” she said.
“Sweetheart — OK, whatever you want,” Medina said.
[embedded content]
The second part had to do with discussion of former NIAID director/COVID czar Dr. Anthony Fauci, school shutdowns, war funding, the fact that she was a retired nurse, and more talk about “sweetheart.” It is no more coherent and no less entertaining:
About Fauci, and Medina’s dislike of him: “You’re a traitor. And he’s right,” the woman said.
Then she went toward the camera and said, “[T]his young man here, Elon Musk supporter, creating a fake website, who’s got a bunch of hackers that are going into the Treasury –“
“Ma’am,” he said, trying to get her to calm down. But no, remember: Call her “sweetheart” instead.
[embedded content]
There was a coda to this, and it was no less ridiculous:
UNHINGED ANTI-ELON LADY FINAL PART: Elon Derangement Syndrome was born today and it chose Portland, Oregon as its birthing place. #orpol #oregon @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/SSBUOcplen
— David Medina 🦫🇺🇸 (@davidmedinapdx) February 16, 2025
Again, it’s worth noting that this whole exchange began in medias res and that we don’t know if there was a calm, happy beginning to this that turned unhappy rapidly when this woman found out that Medina was conservative. Perhaps there was something that theoretically triggered this kind of an attack-dog reaction — I can’t think of anything that would possibly justify it, but I admit I can’t exactly dream up every possible interaction this woman had with Medina before we saw these histrionics. However, caveat emptor.
That being said, even if there was some theoretical trigger — what the heck is this? Who does this impress? Eight years after the famous screaming woman meme was created at the first Trump inauguration, people still think that by acting this way, they’ll get conservatives and Trump-supportive independents to … do what, precisely?
I don’t get it, and I don’t think many other people do, either. Which is why it’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome. “Derange,” as Merriam-Webster notes, means (in this sense, anyhow): “to make mentally unsound.” Not only is this behavior beyond bizarre, there’s also no rational reason to believe it does anything except make a fool of oneself.
Congratulations at succeeding, I guess, Portland Lady. You’ve done PDX proud.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
