The most debilitating symptom of Trump Derangement Syndrome is impaired political judgment. Something about President Donald Trump‘s presence and popularity, and perhaps even his very existence, causes his opponents to malfunction and self-destruct. Perfectly intelligent people become like cats chasing laser pointers into walls. Seasoned politicians and operatives misread easy cues and miss wide-open lay-ups. Allies credit Trump’s success in 10 years of politics to a Midas touch, but it’s more about his opponents having the opposite.
The Democratic beatification of Kilmar Abrego Garcia stands to go down as an historic American political blunder. The illegal immigrant and MS-13 gangbanger “accidentally” deported to his native El Salvador did not become a martyr randomly — he was purposefully chosen by Democrats and their legacy media machine to highlight the supposed evil of Trump’s deportation efforts. He was famously dubbed the “Maryland man” and cast as a loving father and husband and a model citizen despite evidence to the contrary.
Speaking on MSNBC, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) initially characterized Abrego Garcia’s deportation as an “attack on freedom, and the case of Kilmar is Exhibit A of a bully trying to start by picking on the most vulnerable.” Van Hollen, who famously flew to El Salvador to visit with Abrego Garcia out of a promise to his wife that he “would do everything possible to bring him home,” repeatedly described him as a “Marylander” and a “father of three.”
Before his flight to El Salvador, Van Hollen filmed a video saying, “The goal of this mission is to let the Trump administration know that we are going to keep fighting to bring Abrego Garcia home.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told CNN on April 18 that the Trump administration was “making up all this stuff about MS-13” against “a guy who has never been prosecuted, much less convicted of anything criminal.” He later said during a hearing that had “there been any form of due process, [Abrego Garcia] would have been able quickly to explain the government’s error.”
The legacy media breathlessly echoed Van Hollen’s and Raskin’s framing, spreading the false idea that Abrego Garcia was a sympathetic political prisoner of Trump’s supposedly racist deportation scheme. Headlines depicting him as an innocent, law-abiding American spread rapidly.
The problem is that this framing and these facts are incorrect. Upon his return to the United States, he will face charges of human trafficking, which includes unaccompanied minors. He allegedly participated in over 100 trips from Texas to Maryland from 2016 to 2025. He is also being accused of transporting firearms and narcotics purchased in Texas for resale in Maryland. He could face up to 10 years per person transported, potentially a life sentence.
The legal proceedings could take months, if not years, to play out. The government’s evidence will surface slowly as its case unfolds. And each time the public learns some hideous new detail about Abrego Garcia’s misdeeds, they will be reminded of the sympathy he received from Democrats and the legacy media in those early weeks and months. They will recall the image of Van Hollen seated with Abrego Garcia over margaritas and depictions of him as a law-abiding “Marylander.” And with each damning new revelation, the perception of Democrats being the party of open borders and illegal immigration will be reinforced.
This isn’t just a momentary political blunder — it’s got legs.
To make matters worse, Van Hollen and company now appear set on an incoherent strategy of simultaneously doubling down and backtracking. In a statement Friday, Van Hollen said the Abrego Garcia case was “never about the man” but only about defending due process. Raskin has now said the same. But in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Van Hollen said that the “Trump administration and all its cronies should apologize to the country for putting us through this unnecessary situation, and to Abrego Garcia for putting him through this situation and his family.”
KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA RETURNS TO THE U.S. — BUT NOT THE WAY HIS SUPPORTERS WANTED
Such a statement doesn’t even begin to make sense, either logically or politically. It is the political equivalent of a cat chasing a laser dot. And it will be played on a loop in the run-up to the midterm elections next year.
What about Trump makes their minds turn to mush like this? It’s a question that will be studied by political scientists for decades to come. I’ll bet Trump really does wish he could run against this Democratic Party one more time. With enemies like these, winning feels like a foregone conclusion.