Trump Derangement Syndrome, or TDS as it often appears in social media posts, is MAGA’s way of deflecting criticisms of President Trump. Rather than defend the defenseless when confronted with a reckless Truth Social post, a misogynistic comment, or another cruel and reckless policy, supporters accuse the critic of having TDS. Dismissive, and perhaps even a little funny, TDS reminds us that in these polarized days, one man’s windmill is another man’s giant.

One dare not darken the pages of classic literature to find our own Don Quixote. For Shelby Countians, a quick perusal of a Facebook feed is likely to produce the railing, ranting, self-aggrandizing posts of State Senator Brent Taylor. More often than not, Taylor is taking credit for “making Memphis matter” along with the Sun rising and setting. His main target for nearly 4 years has been District Attorney General Steve Mulroy.

Mulroy, a constitutional and election law expert and former federal prosecutor, defeated incumbent Republican DA Amy Weirich in August of 2022. Frankly, the race was not close. Voters chose Mulroy by twelve percentage points. With that victory, Mulroy inherited a record crime rate and an office handling an average of 40,000 cases per year.

Even before Mulroy had been sworn in, Taylor mailed a fundraising appeal to business types and Republican donors promising to hold Mulroy accountable. From there, the fiery rhetoric, false accusations, and onerous public records requests began, followed by cleverly labeled legislation purporting to make us all safer.

When his fever from Mulroy Derangement Syndrome spiked, Taylor promised to remove the DA through a legislative vote based on dubious claims and downright falsehoods. To bolster his case, Taylor filed multiple ethics complaints with the Board of Professional Responsibility that were all ultimately dismissed. At the close of last year’s legislative session, Taylor had failed to garner the support of colleagues for a removal vote of Mulroy, which should have ended the row, but MDS is a lingering condition.

Now, two proposals sponsored by Taylor touted as helping to save Memphis are advancing through the legislature. The reality is that neither measure does anything to improve public safety, and arguably, makes Memphis less safe.

Memphis Safe Task Force (MSTF) Accountability Act

Sponsored in the House by Representative John Gillespie, the Memphis Safe Task Force Accountability Act requires Mulroy to notify the legislature if his office enters into a plea bargain, lowers the charges, or declines to prosecute any serious crime for a defendant arrested by the task force. The House version requires a monthly report, and the Senate version requires a weekly report.

Remember that the DA’s office handles approximately 123,000 cases annually across 5 courts. Now, the MSTF has arrested thousands more, and approximately 250 of those cases are being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney. Mulroy has no additional staff, but must absorb the additional caseload, which his team has done without complaint.

However, the point of the bill is to win the “gotcha” game. Taylor contends that Mulroy is the “weak link” in the task force efforts without any actual evidence. The goal is to show that Mulroy is pleading or lowering charges on a significant number of cases and to do so without providing critical context.

Prosecutors often agree to plea bargains to ensure that defendants serve time, rather than risk losing before a jury. Taylor forgets or fails to acknowledge that there is often a capable defense attorney on the other side of a case questioning the efficacy of the evidence. Despite hours of video evidence, an all-white jury from Hamilton County acquitted the officers who beat Tyre Nichols to death, and that’s just one example of the unpredictability of the jury process.

In some cases, prosecutors have no choice but to dismiss charges because witnesses refuse to cooperate or cannot be found because they, too, are wanted for a crime. At other times, the evidence collected by law enforcement is insufficient or compromised in some way. Judges dismiss cases because they determine the evidence is not sufficient for prosecution over the objections of the district attorneys prosecuting the case.

Attorney General Audit

A new bill supported by Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton, and the product of much foreshadowing by the Speaker and Senator Taylor, allows the state’s Attorney General to conduct a study (the original bill said “audit”) of the records of the district attorney in the 30th judicial district (Shelby County). The scope of the study includes the disposition of any cases, financial records, and

 “Any other alleged misconduct or unlawful acts committed in the course of the district attorney general’s duties,” [Emphasis added] relative to the Memphis Safe Task Force.

In other words, anyone claiming misconduct could spark an Attorney General review. Of course, we already know that if the bill passes, there will be an audit, and the unelected state’s Attorney General has almost certainly already agreed to conduct it.

The bill is constitutionally suspect because it only applies to DA Mulroy. It may also be constitutionally weak because the state constitution gives broad discretionary powers to the local district attorney, which arguably are constrained by the bill.

Making Memphis Unsafe

The sponsors claim that both pieces of legislation are intended to make Memphis safer, but the truth is that they have the potential to make Memphis less safe. When the MSTF landed, the U.S. Attorney was loaned 20 JAG Corp attorneys from the Department of War to help prosecute the 200+ cases added to his office’s workload. DA Mulroy received no additional attorneys or resources for the remaining 10,000+ cases added to the nearly 123,000 already in the system.

Now, Mulroy, his prosecutors, and support staff must segregate MSTF cases that are fundamentally no different from other serious crimes and compile reports to help Taylor and Sexton make their false case that he’s not tough enough on criminals. Add to that an expansive study by the attorney general that could take weeks or months to complete and drain precious resources from the DA’s office. Already, Mulroy and his team have spent countless hours gathering thousands of records to comply with Senator Taylor’s frivolous requests and defending the critical work of the office.

Every minute Mulroy’s team dedicates to Taylor and Sexton paper pushing is a minute they are not working on higher bail for dangerous defendants, putting violent criminals behind bars, and serving crime victims. If the supporters of these bills really wanted to make Memphis safer, providing resources for the DA, improving jail conditions, and investing in prevention and intervention models are a few obvious ways they could do it. But those solutions cost money and require political capital to win support from fellow legislators and the Governor.

The issue is really not about a safe Memphis; it is about stoking fear and scoring political points to further Taylor’s and Sexton’s own ambitions.