# Post ts_109547438151890912

- Post ID: `ts_109547438151890912`
- Platform: Truth Social
- Posted: 2022-12-20T18:34:11.095Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/ts_109547438151890912
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/ts_109547438151890912/analysis
- Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/ts_109547438151890912.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording)

## Post text

> …Simply put, it is because the Vice President did have a choice, and looking back at it now, the 2020 Voting Fraud was far greater than anyone thought possible, with even our Government, through the FBI, changing the results of the Election by millions and millions of votes.

## Engagement

- Likes: 17,058
- Reposts: 5,341
- Replies: 804
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-02-01T01:19:51.425Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-03-20T01:11:25.323Z (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, part of a 5+ post barrage on the day the Jan. 6 Committee issued criminal referrals, reveals crisis-level narcissistic defense activation. Trump deploys pathological denial and distortion simultaneously: asserting the VP "did have a choice" (contradicting legal consensus) and claiming the FBI changed election results "by millions and millions of votes" (unsupported by evidence). The backward reasoning structure — starting from the conclusion that the election was stolen to retroactively justify January 6th — represents textbook motivated reasoning in service of narcissistic preservation. The mixed grandiose-vulnerable state combines victimhood (government conspiracy) with grandiosity (unique truth-seer). The perseverative quality — same theme across 5+ posts — suggests significant psychological distress masked by aggressive output volume, consistent with moderate hypomanic features under threat. The timing is critically significant: issuing retroactive justifications for January 6th on the very day criminal referrals are issued represents both legal risk-taking and psychological compulsion. The epistemic closure is complete — all contrary evidence is reframed as proof of conspiracy, creating an unfalsifiable belief system that demands follower compliance as a loyalty test.

## Psychological Analysis: Truth Social Post (2022-12-20)

This post is a continuation of a multi-post thread responding to the January 6th Committee's criminal referral of Trump. The ellipsis at the start indicates this is a truncated continuation.

### Context & Trigger
The Jan. 6 Committee unanimously voted to refer Trump for criminal prosecution on four charges including insurrection. This represents a massive narcissistic injury — formal institutional condemnation. Trump's response is a sustained, multi-post barrage reframing the entire narrative around election fraud and FBI suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story.

### Authorship
Posted at 1:34 PM EST (Trump likely at Mar-a-Lago in December). Business hours, but the writing style — run-on sentence, emotional escalation, characteristic capitalization patterns — is consistent with authentic Trump. The rhetorical style matches his other posts from this day, all clearly personally authored in a reactive state.

### Key Psychological Features
The post makes two extraordinary claims: (1) the VP "did have a choice" (contradicting constitutional consensus), and (2) the FBI changed election results "by millions and millions of votes." The phrase "millions and millions" is characteristic Trump hyperbolic escalation — vague but enormous numbers used to overwhelm rather than persuade.

The logical structure is notable: he argues backward from conclusion to justification. The election was stolen → therefore Pence had a choice → therefore Jan 6 was justified. This is textbook rationalization in service of denial.

### Longitudinal Note
This is post 5+ in a single-day barrage — a pattern consistent with narcissistic crisis response. The volume and repetition (perseveration on the same themes across all posts) suggest significant distress masked by aggressive output.

## Fact Verification

| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|-------|---------|----------|
| "The Vice President did have a choice [to reject electoral votes]" | **False** | Constitutional scholars across the political spectrum, federal courts, and the Electoral Count Act all establish the VP role as ceremonial. Even Trump's own VP counsel Greg Jacob and conservative judge Michael Luttig testified it was not within VP authority. |
| "The FBI changed election results by millions and millions of votes" | **False** | The FBI asked social media platforms to be alert to foreign disinformation. No evidence exists that the FBI 'changed' any vote counts. The Hunter Biden laptop story suppression, while controversial, did not constitute the FBI changing election results. Multiple studies found minimal electoral impact. |

Overall Veracity: 0%

## Authorship Analysis

**Self-Written** (score: 82%)

### Indicators

- Run-on sentence structure
- Characteristic hyperbole ('millions and millions')
- Emotional reactivity to Jan 6 committee
- Stream-of-consciousness continuation from prior posts
- Business hours but crisis-reactive posting pattern

## Psychological Profile

### State

**Mixed State**

**Trigger:** Narcissistic Injury — Exposure (January 6th Committee criminal referral)

**Rage:** Intensity 70% targeting FBI, Democrats, Jan 6 Committee
- Proportionality: 20%

Sentiment: -0.60

Baseline Deviation: slight

**Moderately Hypomanic**
- 5+ posts on same topic in rapid succession
- Pressured output
- Grandiose certainty

### Clinical

**Malignant Narcissism:**
- Narcissistic: 80%
- Antisocial: 50%
- Paranoid: 70%
- Sadism: 20%

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

**Cognitive Complexity:**
- Complexity: 35%

Cognitive Markers:
- perseveration
- tangentiality

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- Inviting audience into shared victimhood
- Framing complex legal issues as simple betrayal

## Danger Assessment

**ELEVATED**

### Indicators

- Continued delegitimization of democratic institutions
- Retroactive justification of Jan 6 events on the day criminal referrals issued
- Implies government conspiracy changed election — framework that could motivate extremist action

### Gaslighting

- Asserts VP 'did have a choice' despite universal legal consensus otherwise
- Claims fraud was 'far greater than anyone thought' without evidence
- Reframes FBI communication with social media as 'changing results by millions of votes'

## Fact Checks (2)

_The model's verdicts from 2026-03-20._

> The Vice President did have a choice [to reject electoral votes]

**FALSE**

Constitutional scholars across the political spectrum, federal courts, and the Electoral Count Act all establish the VP role as ceremonial. Even Trump's own VP counsel Greg Jacob and conservative judge Michael Luttig testified it was not within VP authority.

Sources: Jan 6 Committee testimony; Constitutional law consensus

> The FBI changed election results by millions and millions of votes

**FALSE**

The FBI asked social media platforms to be alert to foreign disinformation. No evidence exists that the FBI 'changed' any vote counts. The Hunter Biden laptop story suppression, while controversial, did not constitute the FBI changing election results. Multiple studies found minimal electoral impact.

Sources: Twitter Files; FBI statements; Election integrity studies

Overall Veracity: 0%

## Tags

- election_denial (100%)
- jan6_justification (90%)
- institutional_delegitimization (80%)
- crisis_response (85%)
- big_lie (95%)

## That day

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

**Criminal Referral Day: Trump Unleashes 20-Post Defensive Barrage as Jan. 6 Committee Votes to Prosecute**

Trump spent the day in sustained defensive mode after the January 6 Committee voted to criminally refer him to the Department of Justice. He posted 20 times, with two intense bursts -- four posts in an hour that morning and five more in just fifteen minutes that afternoon -- all hammering the same message: the FBI rigged the 2020 election, January 6 was a justified protest, and his accusers are the real insurrectionists. By mid-afternoon the original posts gave way to a rapid dump of six supportive news links, and the evening wound down with a pair of gloomy retweets. The mood was angry and defensive throughout, with flashes of grandiosity when he found arguments he believed vindicated him.

Full digest for 2022-12-20: https://trump.fm/date/2022-12-20/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2022, December 20). …Simply put, it is because the Vice President did... [Social media post]. Truth Social. trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/ts_109547438151890912
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "…Simply put, it is because the Vice President did have a..." Truth Social, 20 Dec. 2022. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_109547438151890912. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "…Simply put, it is because the Vice President did have a...," Truth Social, December 20, 2022, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_109547438151890912.

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