# Post ts_108842090429738182

- Post ID: `ts_108842090429738182`
- Platform: Truth Social
- Posted: 2022-08-18T04:54:58.992Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/ts_108842090429738182
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/ts_108842090429738182/analysis
- Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/ts_108842090429738182.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording)

## Post text

> So, let me get this straight! In the Great State of Georgia, if you want to challenge or protest Election results in any way, shape, or form (despite the fact that in Atlanta, murders and crime are the highest in the Nation, with many people dying each month - at numbers never seen before), they will charge you and put you in jail. But if you kill people, you will quickly be set free to murder again. Isn’t there something “slightly” wrong with this scenario? A PERFECT PHONE CALL!

## Engagement

- Likes: 42,288
- Reposts: 11,536
- Replies: 1,901
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-02-01T01:19:51.437Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-03-19T22:14:42.629Z (UTC): a model's reading of this post, not his words. Its psychological terms describe the language, not a clinical assessment of him._

## Summary

Late-night post reveals narcissistic injury response to escalating Fulton County investigation. Trump employs pathological denial ("A PERFECT PHONE CALL!" — recycled from the 2019 Ukraine scandal) and distortion (reframing potential criminal election interference as innocent "challenge or protest"). The core rhetorical move is a false equivalence between election prosecution and crime leniency, amplified by fabricated statistics about Atlanta having the nation's highest murder rate (false). The parenthetical crime tangent functions as displacement from the actual legal threat. The perseverative catchphrase — now applied to a second recorded phone call in which Trump arguably pressured officials — represents a notable gaslighting pattern: denying the content of recordings that are publicly available. The mixed narcissistic state (grandiose denial + vulnerable persecution) is consistent with baseline patterns under legal threat.

## Psychological Analysis: Truth Social Post ts_108842090429738182

### Context
Posted 2022-08-18 at 04:54 UTC. Trump was likely at Bedminster, NJ (EDT, UTC-4), making this approximately **12:54 AM local time** — classic late-night authentic posting window. The post responds to the Fulton County, Georgia investigation into Trump's January 2021 phone call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he asked officials to "find" votes.

### Authorship
The late-night timestamp, emotional reactivity, stream-of-consciousness structure ("So, let me get this straight!"), rhetorical questions, scare quotes around "slightly," and the signature catchphrase "A PERFECT PHONE CALL!" all strongly indicate authentic Trump authorship. The phrase "A PERFECT PHONE CALL" is a perseverative callback to his defense of the 2019 Ukraine call — now repurposed for the Raffensperger call.

### Psychological Dynamics
The post is driven by **narcissistic injury** from the escalating Georgia criminal investigation. The core defense is a **false equivalence/whataboutism**: equating election interference prosecution with violent crime, implying the justice system is inverted. This is classic **rationalization** layered with **distortion** — the premise that challenging election results should be legally protected regardless of method conflates lawful protest with potentially criminal conduct.

The parenthetical about Atlanta crime is a **displacement** — redirecting from the legal threat to a tangential grievance about urban crime. It also carries racial dog-whistle undertones common in Trump's rhetoric about majority-Black cities.

"A PERFECT PHONE CALL!" at the end functions as a **denial** marker — a flat refusal to acknowledge any wrongdoing, delivered as a declarative exclamation rather than an argument.

### Rhetorical Analysis
The post employs: (1) false equivalence between election challenge prosecution and lenient crime policy; (2) whataboutism redirecting from his legal exposure; (3) hyperbole ("murders and crime are the highest in the Nation," "numbers never seen before"); (4) rhetorical question as persuasion device; (5) scare quotes around "slightly" as sarcastic minimization; (6) the perseverative catchphrase as reality-closure device.

### Fact Verification

| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|-------|---------|----------|
| "In Atlanta, murders and crime are the highest in the Nation" | **False** | In 2021-2022, Atlanta had elevated crime but was not the highest in the nation. St. Louis, Baltimore, and New Orleans consistently ranked higher in per-capita murder rates. |
| "Many people dying each month at numbers never seen before" | **Mostly False** | Atlanta's 2021 homicide count (~158) was historically high for the city but not unprecedented nationally and had begun declining in 2022. |

Overall Veracity: 10%

## Authorship Analysis

**Self-Written** (score: 92%)

### Indicators

- 12:54 AM local time (Bedminster EDT)
- Stream-of-consciousness opener 'So, let me get this straight!'
- Emotional reactivity and rhetorical questions
- Scare quotes around 'slightly'
- Signature catchphrase 'A PERFECT PHONE CALL!'

## Psychological Profile

### State

**Mixed State**

**Trigger:** Narcissistic Injury — Exposure (Fulton County Georgia criminal investigation into Raffensperger phone call)

**Rage:** Intensity 60% targeting Georgia prosecutors / justice system
- Proportionality: 30%

Sentiment: -0.65

### Clinical

**Malignant Narcissism:**
- Narcissistic: 70%
- Antisocial: 50%
- Paranoid: 50%
- Sadism: 10%

**Defense Mechanisms:**
- rationalization (neurotic)
- denial (pathological)
- displacement (neurotic)
- distortion (pathological)

**Cognitive Complexity:**
- Complexity: 50%

Cognitive Markers:
- perseveration

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- Rhetorical question inviting audience agreement
- Shared grievance framing
- Us-vs-them justice system narrative

## Danger Assessment

**NONE**

### Gaslighting

- Reframing potentially criminal conduct (pressuring election officials) as innocuous 'challenge or protest'
- 'A PERFECT PHONE CALL' denies reality of recorded conversation where Trump asked Raffensperger to 'find 11,780 votes'

## Fact Checks (2)

_The model's verdicts from 2026-03-19._

> In Atlanta, murders and crime are the highest in the Nation

**FALSE**

In 2021-2022, Atlanta had elevated crime but was not the highest in the nation. St. Louis, Baltimore, and New Orleans consistently ranked higher in per-capita murder rates.

Sources: FBI UCR data; CDC mortality statistics

> Many people dying each month at numbers never seen before

**MOSTLY FALSE**

Atlanta's 2021 homicide count (~158) was historically high for the city but not unprecedented nationally and had begun declining in 2022.

Sources: Atlanta Police Department crime data

Overall Veracity: 10%

## Tags

- georgia_investigation (90%)
- whataboutism (80%)
- crime_fearmongering (60%)
- perfect_phone_call (70%)
- denial_of_wrongdoing (80%)

## That day

_From trump.fm's machine-generated digest of the day, not his words._

**Legal Siege Triggers Midnight Anxiety Before Afternoon Grandiosity Takes Over — Weisselberg Plea Ignored**

Trump started the day with anxious late-night posts defending himself against the Georgia election investigation and pushing back on reports about his legal team's readiness for the Mar-a-Lago case. By afternoon, the mood shifted dramatically as he shared documents asserting his declassification authority, celebrated Liz Cheney's primary defeat, and worked to discredit the FBI unit handling the Mar-a-Lago probe. Notably absent from the entire day: any mention of his longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg pleading guilty to 15 felonies and agreeing to testify against the Trump Organization. The day followed a clear emotional arc from defensive vulnerability to assertive grandiosity, with legal threats serving as both the source of anxiety and the fuel for counterattack.

Full digest for 2022-08-18: https://trump.fm/date/2022-08-18/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2022, August 18). So, let me get this straight! In the Great State... [Social media post]. Truth Social. trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/ts_108842090429738182
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "So, let me get this straight! In the Great State of..." Truth Social, 18 Aug. 2022. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_108842090429738182. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "So, let me get this straight! In the Great State of...," Truth Social, August 18, 2022, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_108842090429738182.

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