Since the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down President Trump’s sweeping tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), I’ve watched the national reaction with a mixture of amusement and dismay. This decision isn’t just a landmark on presidential power and congressional taxing authority; it’s an almost perfect diagnostic test for a broader societal condition: reflexive, emotional hostility or allegiance toward anything related to Donald Trump.

Almost no one understands the complexities of tariffs and constitutional law, but you wouldn’t have known it from the immediate, passionate and emotionally irrational public response to the Supreme Court’s decision. If someone’s first instinct was to cheer the ruling as “wise,” “a brilliant defense of democracy,” or “finally curbing a dictator,” without reading a single page of the 170-page opinion, chances are they weren’t motivated by a sudden interest in constitutional originalism, statutory interpretation, or the major-questions doctrine. It was about opposing Trump. Any outcome that hurts him is automatically virtuous. Textbook Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).

Flip the script: if the instant response was to denounce the Court as “activist traitors,” “RINO sellouts,” or “deep-state saboteurs”—dismissing a decision joined by multiple conservative justices and grounded in the plain text of a statute that never once uses the word “tariff”—that’s the mirror image of the same impulse. Blind, reflexive Trump worship where any restraint on the man is betrayal, and facts become secondary to loyalty. This is also Trump Derangement Syndrome, just wearing a MAGA hat instead of a No Kings pin.

One long-running debate between conservatives and liberals is about who ultimately bears the burden of certain taxes. Liberals often push for corporations to pay more taxes. Conservatives counter that businesses simply pass those costs onto their customers in higher prices. (The reality is much, much more complicated than either side’s talking points.)

Yet in this tariff discussion, the alignments are reversed—democrats and liberals generally oppose the tariffs, while conservatives and republicans support them—despite long preaching the virtues of lower taxes.

Perhaps some commentators have an educated, reasoned explanation for their seemingly contradictory positions on the Trump tariffs, but the uniformity of the reactions suggest that many people are simply performing for their team. “If Trump supports it, I must oppose it.” Or vice-versa.

In a nation defined by polarization, this one ruling functions as a revealing test. You don’t need to be a trade economist or constitutional scholar to spot either variant of TDS. Just observe the speed and heat of someone’s reaction before any real understanding kicks in. The fewer facts someone marshals about the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, its historical use, or the mechanics of tariffs, the clearer the syndrome.

David Moon is president of Moon Capital Management. A version of this piece originally appeared in the USA TODAY NETWORK.