Trump has Whitmer Derangement Syndrome

Those who oppose President Donald Trump — the majority of the country, according to polls — have been accused by the President's supporters of having "Trump Derangement Syndrome," which is one hell of a form of gaslighting. Trump spouts insane nonsense every day — incoherent speeches, grammatically challenged tweets, and a staggering 50 false or misleading statements per day on average lately — and we're the ones who are crazy?

But if anything, it seems like Trump is the one with an unhealthy obsession. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who he once dismissed as "that woman from Michigan," seems to have gotten in his head more than anyone since he ran against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Trump has brought up Whitmer repeatedly in the final days of his re-election campaign, calling her a "dictator" and saying she needs to "open the state up" from the coronavirus pandemic shutdown. That's despite the fact that Michigan hasn't been under a stay-at-home order for months, and despite the fact that Whitmer herself has called for Trump to cool down the heated rhetoric against her after a group of domestic terrorists planned to kill her, apparently inspired by the President's words.

Trump is so psyched out about Whitmer that tough questions from veteran CBS reporter Lesley Stahl during an interview for an upcoming episode of 60 Minutes caused him to have a meltdown and walk off the set, cutting the interview short.

Trump leaked a portion of the interview on Facebook, for some strange reason, as if it would make him look good. In fact, the segment is filled with more of Trump's falsehoods. Trump criticizes Whitmer for closing churches during the stay-at-home order, which is untrue — they were exempted. He also claims Whitmer exempted her husband from the stay-at-home order, "who went sailing and did things that he wasn't supposed to be doing," which is a wildly inaccurate summary of a nothingburger of a story regarding a bad joke her husband said.

Trump also claims he can't be against Whitmer because it was "our Justice Department" that helped Whitmer in the foiled plot against her. In fact, the FBI acts independently from the President.

The questions about Whitmer come at the 30-minute mark of the video.

"You are very powerful, and the people who love you love you with passion, and if you go after somebody the way you've been going after her, they take it to heart and then there are plots and threats," Stahl says, and asks him why he encourages his supporters to chant "lock her up" at rallies — a revival of his 2016 chant against Clinton.

"Of course I don't want to lock her up," Trump replies. But just last week Trump held a rally in Michigan, where, in response to the crowd chanting, Trump replied "lock them all up."

It's Trump who needs to be locked up — in a mental institution.

The full interview is set to air at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Stay on top of Detroit news and views. Sign up for our weekly issue newsletter delivered each Wednesday.