During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump said a poll showed his supporters were so loyal that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters. Among members of the liberal media, the reverse seems to be true: Trump could follow through with Barack Obama's policies and still be labeled evil incarnate.
Liberal media reaction to Trump's missile strike on Syria is a case in point, and Fareed Zakaria, who was vilified for supporting it, is warning his fellow liberals that they need to avoid "Trump Derangement Syndrome" for the good of the country.
I didn’t really believe that there was such a thing as Trump Derangement Syndrome — hatred of President Trump so intense that it impairs people’s judgment. It’s not that I didn’t notice the harsh, unyielding language against him — I’ve said a few tough things myself — but that throughout the campaign, Trump seemed to do things that justified it.
I supported the strike and pointed out — in print and on air — that Trump was finally being presidential because the action “seems to reflect a belated recognition from Trump that he cannot simply put America first — that the president of the United States must act on behalf of broader interests and ideals.”
From the response on the left, you would have thought I had just endorsed Trump for pope.
If Trump pursues a policy, it cannot axiomatically be wrong, evil and dangerous.
Many of Trump’s campaign promises and policies are idiotic and unworkable. It was always likely that he would reverse them, as he has begun to do this week on several fronts. Those of us who opposed him face an important challenge. We have to ask ourselves, which would we rather see: Trump reversing himself or Trump relentlessly pursuing his campaign agenda? The first option would be good for the country and the world, though it might save Trump from an ignominious fall. The second would be a disaster for all. It raises the quandary: Do we want what’s better for America or what’s worse for Donald Trump?
Trump's alt-right supporters loudly opposed the Syria strike, seeing his policy as an extension of Obama's. To the extent Trump is linked with Obama's policies in the media, he is weakened.
If Zakaria's colleagues in the media follow his advice, it would take away one of Trump's talking points - that he can never get a fair shake from these "Fake News" purveyors - and they might just achieve the goals of the resistance.
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