President Donald Trump has praised the looks of a female reporter who says she used to suffer from “Trump Derangement Syndrome” but is now healed.
In a bizarre roundtable at the White House on Wednesday, the president invited conservative influencers and commentators who have been on the ground in Portland to discuss Antifa, the anti-fascist movement that the administration has branded a domestic terrorist organization.
The session began like many of Trump’s “Dear Leader-style” cabinet meetings, with Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI director Kash Patel and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem praising the president’s efforts in trying to dismantle “radical left-wing” networks.
Trump then asked his guests to share their stories of being attacked by Antifa. Among them was Brandi Kruse, a former mainstream TV journalist turned conservative commentator who said her experience changed her view about left-wing violence–and the president himself.
“I’m living proof that you can recover from TDS,” Kruse said, referencing “Trump Derangement Syndrome”–the term used by MAGA world to describe liberals’ negative reactions to the president.
“I had strong Trump Derangement Syndrome for about eight years. This is one of the reasons I’ve recovered from it. And by the way, it’s much better to not have TDS–I’m happier, healthier, more successful. I even think I got a little more attractive after I got rid of my Trump derangement.”
“Very attractive,” the 79-year-old president replied.
“I’m glad you no longer have TDS,” he later added. “I feel very good about that.”
The unusual exchange capped off a 90-minute roundtable in which attendees oscillated between praising Trump, offering suggestions to take down left-wing militants, and attacking the mainstream media in the room.
At one point, the president referred to the White House press as “the garbage standing over here” and polled his MAGA guests about which mainstream TV networks were the worst.
At another point, independent journalist Nick Sortor, who was arrested last week during a demonstration at the ICE building in Portland, produced an American flag that he said was burned by a protester in Portland.
Trump asked him to give it to Attorney General Bondi so the protesters who burned it could be prosecuted.
Kruse, who hosts an anti-woke show called “unDivided with Brandi Kruse” also lashed out at the White House correspondents in the room.
“I’m a reporter in Seattle, and frankly, I could not care any less what any of you have to say about this meeting,” she told them.
“We’re not here for you. I’m not here to convince you that Antifa is a real thing, because if you have not come to that conclusion by now you are never going to come to that conclusion because you don’t want to see it. And you’re going to say it’s just a bunch of right-wing conservative influencers who are spinning a tail.”
The meeting came as tensions escalated over Trump’s push to use the military to quell violence in Democratic-controlled cities, a crackdown on crime, and support for his mass deportation strategy.
In Portland, a federal judge has temporarily blocked his plan to send troops into Portland after finding there was no violent insurgency to justify it.
In Chicago, hundreds of National Guards from Texas and Illinois are being deployed ahead of a court case on Thursday, in which the state’s leaders hope to thwart the president’s attempts.
However, Trump has said he would consider using the Insurrection Act of 1807 to get his way–a federal law that allows the president to deploy the U.S. military or federalize state National Guard troops to quell what he deems as an insurrection against the United States.
“We have an Insurrection Act for a reason; if I had to enact it, I’d do that,” he told reporters on Monday.
“If people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure I’d do that.”
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