Who coined the term Bush Derangement Syndrome?

1. How the phrase first appeared — the immediate source

The earliest and most-cited origin point is a late-2003 Washington Post column by Charles Krauthammer titled "The Delusional Dean," in which he declared "A plague is abroad in the land. Bush Derangement Syndrome: the acute onset of paranoia..." — language that subsequent summaries and encyclopedic entries quote when tracing the phrase's origin ^{[2] [3] [1]}.

2. Who Charles Krauthammer was, and why that matters

Krauthammer was a prominent conservative political columnist and a trained psychiatrist whose dual identity as commentator and physician provided rhetorical heft to the label; multiple sources identify him as both the originator of the term and the author of the 2003 column that popularized it ^{[1] [2] [4]}. That pedigree mattered: commentators and critics treated the phrase as both a quip and a pseudo-clinical diagnosis, lending the attack on critics an air of authority that helped the term stick across media ^{[3] [5]}.

3. How the expression spread and mutated into political shorthand

After Krauthammer's initial use, "derangement syndrome" became a flexible rhetorical device: writers and partisans adopted versions like "Trump Derangement Syndrome" and "Obama Derangement Syndrome," and the phrase has been invoked by politicians, opinion writers, and even legislative texts to describe what they call irrational opposition to various leaders ^{[1] [3] [4]}. Encyclopedias and opinion outlets trace the term's migration from a specific 2003 jab into a recurring trope applied across partisan conflict ^{[1] [6]}.

4. Alternative origin notes and scholarly caution

Some observers note that the broader "derangement syndrome" pattern may have earlier antecedents in political invective and that similar phrasing was applied to other figures over time, with at least one source suggesting the "DS coinage seems to have started with Clinton" even as Krauthammer's 2003 usage is credited with popularizing the modern formula ^[7]. Sources therefore distinguish between the popularization of "Bush Derangement Syndrome" by Krauthammer and the longer, messier history of labeling opponents as "deranged," a nuance worth noting for etymological caution ^{[7] [8]}.

5. The phrase as a political tool — agendas and critiques

Observers across the spectrum have pointed out that the term functions less as a neutral label and more as a delegitimizing device: Krauthammer used it to characterize harsh Bush critics, conservative outlets and activists later weaponized it against opponents of other conservatives, and critics argue the trope dismisses substantive policy critique as mere pathology ^{[3] [5] [4]}. Coverage documents both the term's rhetorical effectiveness in roping disparate criticism into a single caricature and the pushback that accuses users of masking real disagreements with a faux-medical insult ^{[5] [1]}.

6. Bottom line — attribution and limits of the record

On attribution, the reporting and reference works assembled here converge: Charles Krauthammer coined and popularized "Bush Derangement Syndrome" in 2003 via his Washington Post column, and that usage seeded later variants like "Trump Derangement Syndrome" ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Sources also flag that while Krauthammer's 2003 coinage is the acknowledged origin of the Bush-specific phrase, the broader rhetorical pattern of branding intense political dislike as "derangement" has a more diffuse prehistory and has been contested as a partisan tactic ^{[7] [5]}.