Who coined the term trump derangement syndrome and what is their background?

1. The linguistic ancestor: Krauthammer’s “derangement syndrome” and his background

The root of the idea traces to Charles Krauthammer, who in 2003 coined the phrase "Bush derangement syndrome" to describe what he called "the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people" in reaction to President George W. Bush, and Krauthammer is repeatedly identified in reporting as a conservative political columnist, commentator and psychiatrist — credentials that shaped both the rhetorical force and medical metaphor of the term ^{[1] [3]}.

2. Who first wrote the words “Trump derangement syndrome”?

While Krauthammer invented the derangement metaphor, the first documented use of the exact phrase "Trump derangement syndrome" in a mainstream op‑ed may be Esther Goldberg’s August 2015 piece in The American Spectator, which applied the label to intra‑party critics and "Ruling Class Republicans" uneasy with Trump, a usage noted in summary sources that track the term’s provenance ^[2].

3. How the phrase migrated from metaphor into modern political shorthand

After Goldberg’s early use, the phrase entered the broader lexicon through commentators, politicians and social media; prominent outlets note that Trump himself and his allies adopted the label as a way to frame opposition to him as irrational or pathological, a rhetorical move covered in mainstream reporting and explanatory pieces ^{[4] [5]}. The media record therefore shows a shift from a one‑time rhetorical diagnosis about Bush to a recurring political slur applied to Trump critics.

4. What Krauthammer’s professional identity contributed — and what it did not make the term

Krauthammer’s identity as both a psychiatrist and a political columnist amplified the term’s impact: it carried the veneer of clinical judgment while functioning as opinion journalism, a blending critics have flagged as rhetorically powerful but medically inapt ^{[1] [3]}. Independent reporting and reference entries emphasize that neither "Bush derangement syndrome" nor "Trump derangement syndrome" is a recognized medical diagnosis in any version of the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM, underscoring the label’s metaphorical, not clinical, status ^[1].

5. Competing interpretations and the term’s political function

Psychologists and clinicians quoted in reporting warn that the expression is often used to delegitimize political opponents rather than to describe genuine psychopathology; therapy‑oriented commentary describes how supporters coin and use the label to frame critics as irrational, while others argue the phrase highlights real patterns of intense political fixation and anxiety — a contested terrain noted by mental‑health and media sources ^[6]. This contest reveals the implicit agendas at work: conservatives and Trump allies have used the phrase to neutralize criticism, while critics see the term itself as a partisan smear; both dynamics are documented in the sources ^{[6] [4]}.

6. What the sourced record can and cannot say definitively

The sourced reporting allows two firm claims: that Charles Krauthammer originated the "derangement syndrome" formula and that the precise wording "Trump derangement syndrome" appears in print by at least August 2015 in Esther Goldberg’s op‑ed ^{[1] [2]}. Sources also establish that the term is not a medical diagnosis and that clinicians and commentators debate its descriptive value and political uses ^{[1] [6]}. The sources do not support attributing unique coinage of the exact phrase to Krauthammer himself, nor do they provide a comprehensive chronology of every early instance in social media or local op‑eds beyond the items cited here ^[2].