Pro-Trump Lawmaker Behind Bill to Name ‘TDS’ a Mental Illness Jailed Same Day For Allegedly Soliciting Teen For Sex

Photo via Bloomington Police Department.

Minnesota State Senator Justin Eichorn (R) had a very busy Monday. He was one of five Republican co-authors to introduce a bill that would add “Trump Derangement Syndrome” (“TDS”) to the state’s statutory definition of mental illness. And, according to police, he also chatted with someone he thought was a 16-year-old girl to make arrangements to meet up for sex.

Eichorn’s support for SF 2589, which sought to add TDS, a derogatory term supporters of President Donald Trump use for some of his critics, to several Minnesota statutes that define mental illness, was originally what got the name of an otherwise relatively unknown local lawmaker mentioned in national media reports. The bill defines TDS as follows, borrowing language from a column by the late Charles Krauthammer that coined the term “Bush Derangement Syndrome“:

“Trump Derangement Syndrome” means the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction to the policies and presidencies of President Donald J. Trump. Symptoms may include Trump-induced general hysteria, which produces an inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and signs of psychic pathology in President Donald J. Trump’s behavior. This may be expressed by:

(1) verbal expressions of intense hostility toward President Donald J. Trump; and
(2) overt acts of aggression and violence against anyone supporting President Donald J. Trump or anything that symbolizes President Donald J. Trump.

Media reports noted that SF 2589 was unlikely to pass or even get a hearing, but the bill still drew swift backlash from critics. Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy (DFL) called the bill “wasteful, frivolous and shameful” and “possibly the worst bill in Minnesota history.”

“If it is meant as a joke, it is a waste of staff time and taxpayer resources that trivializes serious mental health issues,” Murphy added. “If the authors are serious, it is an affront to free speech and an expression of a dangerous level of loyalty to an authoritarian president. The authors should be ashamed, and the citizens we’re hearing from are rightfully outraged.”

A few hours later, Eichorn would have problems far bigger than being accused of filing politically petty legislation.

According to The Minnesota Star Tribune, Eichorn “allegedly arranged to meet someone in Bloomington he thought was a teenage girl for sex…but turned out to be a police detective.”

Eichorn’s arrest was announced by police on Tuesday, who told the media that the detective posing as the 16-year-old made arrangements to meet Eichorn at a location in Bloomington, a suburb southwest of the state capitol in St. Paul, around 6 pm CT. “Eichorn arrived in a pickup truck and was arrested without incident outside of his vehicle by a uniformed police officer,” the Star Tribune reported.

“As a 40-year-old man, if you come to the Orange Jumpsuit District looking to have sex with someone’s child, you can expect that we are going to lock you up,” said Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges in a statement announcing the arrest. “I have always advocated stiffer penalties for these types of offenses…We need our state legislature to take this case and this type of conduct more seriously.”

Eichorn is 40 years old and married with four children and was first elected to the state senate in 2016, when Trump was first elected president. He was booked into the Bloomington Police Department jail and will be transported to the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center. He remains in custody and felony charges are pending from the Hennepin County Attorney’s office for Soliciting Under 18 Year Old to Practice Prostitution.

Several legislators, including Republican leaders, called for Eichorn to resign after news of his arrest broke, reported Minnesota Public Radio News.

“We are shocked by these reports and this alleged conduct demands an immediate resignation,” read a statement from the Minnesota Senate Republican caucus. “Justin has a difficult road ahead and he needs to focus on his family.”

This article has been updated.