1) The contemporary trigger: Donald Trump says Democrats are “crazy” in the State of the Union
In his Feb. 24, 2026 State of the Union, President Trump criticized Democrats for not standing and then said, “Look, nobody stands up. These people are crazy. I’m telling you, they’re crazy.” The line matters because it is not a policy critique. It frames the other party as irrational and therefore outside normal democratic disagreement.
NPR’s news analysis of the address places that quote in a broader passage where Trump links the “crazy” label to a larger claim that Democrats are “destroying our country,” reinforcing the idea that the opposition is not merely wrong, but fundamentally dangerous and illegitimate.
If you want a quick clip rather than a full transcript, Forbes Breaking News posted a short video segment that includes the “These people are crazy” line with timestamped captions.
2) Why “crazy” is a classic political move, and why it becomes darker under authoritarianism
Calling opponents “crazy” is not just name calling. It is a rhetorical shortcut that moves an argument from “your ideas are wrong” to “you are not rational.” That shift discourages debate, narrows the space for compromise, and turns political conflict into a question of sanity versus insanity. You can see the same logic at work in how Trump’s comment was tied to applause, jeers, and intra chamber conflict.
In an open society, this kind of language is usually a polarizing persuasion tactic. In authoritarian systems, it often becomes part of a broader story in which opponents are treated as a disease, a contagion, or an infestation. That is the point where rhetoric stops being mere insult and starts functioning as justification for exclusion, repression, or violence.
3) Fascist Italy: Benito Mussolini and the politics of mental incapacity metaphors
In Herman Finer’s Mussolini’s Italy (available as full text on Archive.org), Mussolini is quoted using mental impairment language to describe political life and civic decision making. One striking example is his “madhouse” formulation, used to argue that enforced uniformity would be both unnatural and degrading:
“Imagine an Italy in which 36 millions should all think the same, as though their brains were made in an identical mould, and you would have a madhouse, or rather, a kingdom of utter boredom or imbecility.”
A second example uses explicitly medical language to ridicule the political center of the country:
“If the whole of Rome were not suffering from softening of the brain, they would summon Parliament …”
These quotations do not prove a single direct line from Mussolini to any modern politician. They illustrate a recurring authoritarian habit: delegitimizing political conflict by framing it as cognitive failure or mental breakdown, rather than disagreement among citizens.
4) Stalin’s USSR: Andrey Vyshinsky and the escalation from “mad” to “mad dogs”
If Mussolini’s examples often read as metaphor and contempt, Soviet show trial language frequently goes further, mixing “madness” talk with animalization and extermination imagery. A compiled set of Vyshinsky quotations from the Moscow Trials includes one of the most infamous lines:
“I demand that these mad dogs be shot, each and every one of them!”
The same page shows how “mad” framing was paired with dehumanizing terms like “vermin,” “stinking carrion,” and “human refuse,” language that helps convert opponents into targets rather than fellow citizens. This is the crucial historical warning sign, pathologizing rhetoric can become a moral permission slip for coercion.
5) The contrast worth making: Trump’s line is democratic era rhetoric, the historical examples are state ideology backed by coercion
It is important not to flatten differences. Trump’s insult was delivered in a contested political system with visible dissent in the room and public reporting that includes Democratic protest tactics, boycotts, signs, and walkouts. That context matters because it demonstrates that opposition is still present, still audible, and still organizing.
At the same time, the reason people reach for fascist and communist parallels is not that the institutions are identical. It is that the rhetorical move is recognizable: label opponents as irrational, then treat their dissent as something that should not be negotiated with. NPR’s coverage of the SOTU highlights exactly how the “crazy” remark was tied to Trump’s claim that Democrats were not merely opposing him but harming the country.
6) What a healthier response looks like, regardless of party
If “they are crazy” is a shortcut, the antidote is specificity. Ask for the concrete claim and the evidence. What vote, what policy, what outcome, what proof. That is how democratic arguments are supposed to work, and it is how you prevent politics from turning into competing diagnoses.
Watch and read the primary materials
Video and broadcast sources:
- Forbes Breaking News clip, “These People Are Crazy,” with timestamped captions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smrT1VvaOx0
- PBS program page for the full SOTU broadcast (closed captions available): https://www.pbs.org/video/president-donald-trumps-2026-state-of-the-union-address-munge5/
Text sources:
- NPR, read the full address: https://www.npr.org/2026/02/25/nx-s1-5716159/trump-congress-state-union-read
- NPR, analysis and context including the “crazy” passage: https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5716163/trump-congress-state-union
- NPR, Democratic protest coverage quoting the remark: https://www.npr.org/2026/02/25/g-s1-111434/trump-state-of-the-union-democrats-protest-immigration-epstein
- Vyshinsky “mad dogs” quotations page: http://www.cyberussr.com/rus/vyshinsky.html
- Mussolini’s Italy text (Herman Finer), containing “madhouse,” “imbecility,” and “softening of the brain” quotations: https://archive.org/stream/mussolinisitaly005773mbp/mussolinisitaly005773mbp_djvu.txt
