“They’re not ‘deranged,’ just cowards.”

On Sunday, Donald Trump suggested, or instructed, on Twitter that the Department of Justice should intervene in The New York Times’ investigation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged misbehavior in college. There was a time when a U.S. president interfering with the free press so blatantly would’ve attracted bipartisan condemnation, but Republicans are more obedient now. The President has trained his lapdogs well.

The Democrats have their own problems. Actor Tom Arnold is reported to have said, “I would endorse a fucking Nazi against Trump.” New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg said on “The Argument” podcast that she’d prefer to have a homeless person in the Oval Office than Trump. They both suffer from the modern malady known as Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDR).

TDR gets all the attention, but there’s a related malaise with less fanfare attached—Trump Silence Syndrome (TSS)—that involves monastic silence among Republicans whenever Trump behaves in a way that no American president should be allowed to get away with, a routine occurrence now.

Trump Silence Syndrome is mocked and condemned less because it […]