Social media erupted Thursday with a mix of humor and outrage following reports that President-elect Donald Trump’s team is searching for a disease to justify invoking Section 265 of Title 42 to declare a public health emergency and expel migrants. The plan, first reported by The New York Times just weeks before Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president, has drawn sharp criticism and ridicule online.
“The disease is called narcissistic personality disorder. It currently affects Donald Trump,” quipped Will Bunch, national opinion columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, on Bluesky.
Human rights attorney Qasim Rashid was more scathing, posting on X: “The actual disease is fascism but NYT can’t help but parrot Trump’s fascist statements without challenging them. Also, immigrants consistently have higher vaccination rates and lower disease rates than US Citizens. But facts don’t matter to fascists.”
Historian Charles Louis Richter took a satirical approach, sharing a mock “working list of possible diseases to blame” allegedly leaked from Trump’s office. The list included absurd entries like “Hot Dog Fingers,” “Government Created Killer Nanorobot Infection,” and “Count Choculitis.”
The disease is called narcissistic personality disorder. It currently affects Donald Trump
— Will Bunch (@willbunch.bsky.social) January 10, 2025 at 3:48 AM
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Others turned to humor with a darker edge. “I admittedly haven’t read the article, but I’m just imagining the Trump team searching for a disease the way the cops were searching those bushes for evidence when the United Healthcare CEO was shot,” wrote Bluesky user @hlrowe.bsky.social, a psychologist.
Political science professor Don Moynihan provided a sobering historical context, recalling similar efforts during Trump’s first term. “Finding a public health excuse to close the borders is a strategy from the first term: when migrants got sick in detention centers, Stephen Miller would say it justified border closings,” Moynihan wrote on Bluesky. He noted that COVID-19 eventually provided the rationale for implementing such policies.
Working list of possible diseases to blame, leaked from the Trump Office Mad Cow Disease Ebola Spontaneous Dental Hydroplosion Leprosy Flesh-Eating Bacteria Hot Dog Fingers Anal Fissures Government Created Killer Nanorobot Infection Inverted Penis Count Choculitis Dermatitis
— Charles Louis Richter (@richterscale.bsky.social) January 10, 2025 at 3:40 AM
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Moynihan also warned of the potential for greater executive overreach in a second Trump term, stating, “This is why General Counsels matter so much to dubious claims of executive power, and why Miller/Vought et al. have focused on getting loyalist lawyers into government. In the first term govt lawyers blocked these efforts. In the second term, more likely to say yes.”
Trump has long championed a hardline immigration agenda, making mass deportations and border closures key promises of his campaigns. The latest report highlights his continued commitment to leveraging emergency powers to fulfill these goals, even as critics condemn the approach as legally and ethically questionable.