# Post ts_108851929897063959

- Post ID: `ts_108851929897063959`
- Platform: Truth Social
- Posted: 2022-08-19T22:37:17.349Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/ts_108851929897063959
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/ts_108851929897063959/analysis
- Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/ts_108851929897063959.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording)

## Post text

> Brian Stelter of Fake News CNN got fired because he lied, and lied, and lied - ABOUT ME. May he REST IN PEACE!

## Engagement

- Likes: 45,348
- Reposts: 8,323
- Replies: 1,863
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-02-01T01:19:51.437Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-03-19T22:13:09.607Z (UTC): a model's reading of this post, not his words. Its psychological terms describe the language, not a clinical assessment of him._

## Summary

This post celebrates CNN's Brian Stelter losing his show, attributing it to lying "ABOUT ME"—a grandiose causal distortion, as CNN's changes were driven by new management restructuring. The mock-eulogy "REST IN PEACE" applied to a living person exemplifies ego-syntonic sadism: cruelty packaged as humor, publicly savoring an opponent's professional destruction.

Most notable is the same-day tonal oscillation. Hours earlier, Trump posted lengthy, aggrieved messages about FBI persecution, democratic collapse, and constitutional violations—classic vulnerable narcissism. This post snaps to gleeful grandiosity, demonstrating the rapid state-switching characteristic of narcissistic personality organization. The vulnerable state generates grievance; the grandiose state celebrates enemy destruction. Both serve the same narrative: Trump as the central figure around whom all events revolve.

The post functions as implicit warning to media critics: opposition to Trump leads to professional death. During a period when DHS and FBI had issued bulletins about increased threats against perceived Trump opponents, naming a specific individual with death-adjacent language—even metaphorically—warrants an elevated danger rating. The "REST IN PEACE" device had appeared in prior Trump posts targeting critics and represents a recurring pattern of eliminationist metaphor.

## Psychological Analysis: "Brian Stelter of Fake News CNN got fired..."

### Context
Brian Stelter's departure from CNN was announced August 18, 2022, when CNN canceled his show "Reliable Sources." This post celebrates a perceived enemy's downfall.

### Authorship
Posted at 6:37 PM ET (Trump likely at Bedminster, NJ in August 2022). Business hours but the content—short, punchy, emotionally charged, with dark humor—is characteristic of authentic Trump. The "REST IN PEACE" flourish (applied to someone who is alive) is a signature Trump cruelty-as-comedy device.

### Psychological Analysis
This is a victory lap over a perceived enemy's professional demise. The causal attribution ("got fired because he lied... ABOUT ME") centers Trump as the ultimate arbiter of media careers—grandiose framing where criticism of Trump is recast as the *cause* of professional failure. The "REST IN PEACE" mock-eulogy is ego-syntonic sadism: public humiliation disguised as humor, reveling in an opponent's misfortune.

The post arrives amid a day dominated by the Mar-a-Lago search aftermath (see prior posts). This tonal shift—from aggrieved victim to gleeful aggressor—illustrates the rapid oscillation between vulnerable and grandiose narcissistic states. Stelter's firing provides narcissistic supply and a narrative proof-point: those who oppose Trump are destroyed.

### Rhetorical Devices
The tricolon "lied, and lied, and lied" uses rhythmic repetition for emphasis. "REST IN PEACE" in caps applies death metaphor to career termination—simultaneously dehumanizing and comedic. "ABOUT ME" isolates Trump as the center of Stelter's alleged lying, reinforcing self-referential grandiosity.

### Danger Assessment
The "REST IN PEACE" applied to a living person, while primarily rhetorical schadenfreude, normalizes treating critics' professional destruction as a form of death. In context of the DHS/FBI threat bulletin about increased threats to perceived Trump opponents, this targeting of a specific named individual with eliminationist metaphor is mildly concerning.

## Fact Verification

| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|-------|---------|----------|
| "Brian Stelter was fired from CNN because he lied about Trump" | **Mostly False** | CNN canceled 'Reliable Sources' as part of new CEO Chris Licht's programming overhaul. While Stelter was critical of Trump, his departure was driven by network restructuring, not lying about any specific individual. |

Overall Veracity: 20%

## Authorship Analysis

**Self-Written** (score: 85%)

### Indicators

- Short, punchy structure
- Dark humor / cruelty-as-comedy
- Emotional reactivity to personal grievance
- ALL CAPS for emphasis
- Signature 'Fake News CNN' branding

## Psychological Profile

### State

**Grandiose State**

**Trigger:** Supply Seeking (Brian Stelter's firing from CNN)

Sentiment: +0.60

**Mildly Hypomanic**
- Gleeful, elevated mood celebrating enemy's downfall
- Sharp tonal shift from aggrieved to triumphant within hours

### Clinical

**Malignant Narcissism:**
- Narcissistic: 80%
- Antisocial: 30%
- Paranoid: 20%
- Sadism: 70%

**Defense Mechanisms:**
- devaluation (immature)
- distortion (pathological)

**Cognitive Complexity:**
- Complexity: 30%

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- shared celebration of enemy defeat
- modeling that critics will be punished

## Danger Assessment

**ELEVATED**

### Indicators

- Named individual targeted with death metaphor ('REST IN PEACE')
- Posted during period of heightened threats against perceived Trump opponents (DHS/FBI bulletin)
- Normalizes celebrating destruction of critics

### Gaslighting

- False causal attribution: Stelter fired 'because he lied about me' when CNN's changes were part of new management restructuring
- Framing journalism as 'lying' to delegitimize media scrutiny

## Fact Checks (1)

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

> Brian Stelter was fired from CNN because he lied about Trump

**MOSTLY FALSE**

CNN canceled 'Reliable Sources' as part of new CEO Chris Licht's programming overhaul. While Stelter was critical of Trump, his departure was driven by network restructuring, not lying about any specific individual.

Sources: CNN programming changes under Chris Licht, August 2022

Overall Veracity: 20%

## Tags

- sadistic_celebration (80%)
- media_attack (70%)
- narcissistic_supply (70%)
- named_target (50%)

## That day

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

**FBI Rage Erupts Through Afternoon Veneer of Favorable Polls, Then Snaps to Gleeful Enemy Obituaries**

The day was dominated by fallout from the Mar-a-Lago search, now 11 days old and still the central fixation. The morning was quiet — just a few shared links and a thank-you to Long Island — followed by a midday burst of articles framing the FBI raid as a political gift (rising poll numbers, supporter rallies). But in the late afternoon, the mood darkened sharply: three consecutive long-form posts railed against FBI "atrocities" and constitutional violations, with language implying supporters should not tolerate what was happening. The day ended with a jarring tonal whiplash — gleeful mockery of CNN's Brian Stelter being fired and a joke comparing him unfavorably to Liz Cheney.

Full digest for 2022-08-19: https://trump.fm/date/2022-08-19/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2022, August 19). Brian Stelter of Fake News CNN got fired because... [Social media post]. Truth Social. trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/ts_108851929897063959
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "Brian Stelter of Fake News CNN got fired because he lied,..." Truth Social, 19 Aug. 2022. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_108851929897063959. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "Brian Stelter of Fake News CNN got fired because he lied,...," Truth Social, August 19, 2022, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_108851929897063959.

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