Think of the threats of impeachment before Trump was even inaugurated. Or the fantasies of unhinged celebrities such as Kathy Griffin, Robert De Niro and Madonna that the president or his family suffer violence and maybe death.

All this reprehensible conduct was winked at by the national media because Trump is obviously such a bad, bad person. He is so bad that he had managed to drive good people crazy, so who could blame them?

Yet now, two years into a Trump presidency, a new malady is emerging, one that reflects a less hostile view of him. It is an implicit recognition that the most unlikely commander-in-chief has not only survived, but is thriving in some ways.

I think of this new disease as Trump Imitation Syndrome because its sufferers are behaving in ways that are downright Trumpian.