# Post ts_110031028151803241

- Post ID: `ts_110031028151803241`
- Platform: Truth Social
- Posted: 2023-03-16T04:17:28.904Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/ts_110031028151803241
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/ts_110031028151803241/analysis
- Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/ts_110031028151803241.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording)

## Post text

> Here we go again with the USGA wanting to cut the distance out of a golf ball! Remember, you still have to chip, putt, and do everything else. They really have bigger problems, like LIV. People want to feel and watch the long ball. Also, they want to see the great players hit home runs, not singles and doubles. Length is important for Entertainment Value. LEAVE THE GOLF BALL ALONE. Balls will be mixed for years to come. What a mess. Also, allow long putters, and ball drops from past heights!

## Engagement

- Likes: 14,431
- Reposts: 3,275
- Replies: 526
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-02-01T01:19:51.417Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-03-20T03:33:04.725Z (UTC): a model's reading of this post, not his words. Its psychological terms describe the language, not a clinical assessment of him._

## Summary

Post is a late-night authentic Trump golf commentary opposing the USGA's proposed golf ball distance rollback. Psychologically unremarkable by this subject's baseline — mild grandiosity, populist framing, and domain-authority assertion are all consistent with established patterns. Primary clinical interest is contextual: posted midnight-local during active Manhattan grand jury proceedings (Cohen testimony day), functioning as apparent displacement — low-stakes authority assertion in a domain insulated from legal consequence. No rage, no dehumanization, no clinical escalation. Fact claims check out: USGA/R&A had proposed a distance-limiting Model Local Rule; LIV Golf was a genuine governance disruption; ball drop heights and anchored putter bans are accurately referenced. The cross-sport metaphor ("home runs, not singles and doubles") and ALL CAPS command register are stylistic reflexes, not calculated escalation. Cognitive status appears unimpaired — domain-specific knowledge is accurate and sequencing, while associative, is coherent. Authorship is high-confidence authentic: late-night local time, personal hobby domain, stream-of-consciousness construction. Not clinically significant as a standalone post; worth preserving as a longitudinal data point illustrating the displacement pattern under legal stress.

# Psychological Analysis: Truth Social Post — March 16, 2023 (04:17 UTC)
**Subject:** Donald J. Trump, age 76 | **Platform:** Truth Social | **Topic:** USGA Golf Ball Distance Regulation

---

## Authorship Attribution
**Score: 0.88 — High confidence authentic Trump**

Posted at approximately 11:17 PM EST / 10:17 PM CST (Mar-a-Lago or Iowa depending on travel schedule), this falls squarely in Trump's well-documented late-night posting window. The post exhibits all primary authentic markers: unfiltered stream-of-consciousness construction, an ALL CAPS imperative, abrupt staccato conclusions ("What a mess."), multi-topic associative pivots, and subject matter (golf) representing a confirmed personal passion. No aide would publish an emotional golf policy screed at midnight during active criminal grand jury proceedings.

---

## Multi-Level Personality Analysis

### Level 1: Dispositional Traits
- **Extraversion (High):** Assertive, opinionated, unsolicited pronouncements
- **Agreeableness (Low):** Dismissive of USGA's authority and institutional rationale; no hedging
- **Conscientiousness (Low):** Impulsive construction, multiple tangents, no logical sequencing
- **Neuroticism (Mild):** Irritable but subdued by this subject's baseline; no rage spiral
- **Openness (Low):** Reflexively resistant to rule change; invokes tradition ("past heights")

### Level 2: Characteristic Adaptations
The dominant motive here is **agency/control** expressed in a low-stakes domain. Trump positions himself as the authoritative arbiter of golf's consumer preferences — an extension of the same expert-identity claim deployed in political contexts. The schema is consistent: institutional actors (USGA) are out-of-touch bureaucrats; the fans (implicitly aligned with Trump) know what they want. Self-schema: the man who understands what people really want.

### Level 3: Narrative Identity
- **Protagonist role:** Voice of the fans; authentic insider vs. rule-making elites
- **Contrasting other:** USGA as overreaching regulatory body disconnected from entertainment value
- **Narrative sequence:** Neutral-to-contamination (good game being ruined by bad rules)
- **Identity claims:** Implicit claim as golf authority, defender of spectacle and tradition

### Level 4: Clinical Indicators
Minimal clinical signal in this post. The mild indicators present are:
- **Displacement (neurotic defense):** Post arrives the same night Michael Cohen testified before a Manhattan grand jury, and the same day as Trump's own Stormy Daniels post. Redirecting arousal into a golf grievance offers low-cost agency expression.
- **Grandiose entitlement:** The casual certainty that he speaks for all golf fans, and that entertainment preference should override governing body technical decisions, reflects characteristic entitlement schema.
- **No rage, no paranoia, no dehumanization** — this is one of the subject's quieter posts.

---

## Cognitive Status
No markers of impairment. The post is coherent, on-topic (relatively), and demonstrates domain-specific knowledge (anchored putting ban, ball drop rule changes, LIV competitive threat). Associative pivots across sub-topics are stylistically consistent with this subject's established baseline. No new cognitive concerns flagged.

---

## Fact Verification

| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|-------|---------|----------|
| "USGA wanting to cut the distance out of a golf ball" | **True** | USGA and R&A published a proposed Model Local Rule in December 2022 to limit golf ball distance for elite-level play, sparking industry debate in early 2023. |
| "USGA has bigger problems, like LIV" | **Mostly True** | LIV Golf's Saudi-backed competition created significant governance and membership disruption for PGA Tour and related bodies in 2022-2023, constituting a genuine institutional crisis. |
| "Balls will be mixed for years to come" | **Mostly True** | The proposed bifurcated standard (elite Tour ball vs. recreational ball) was broadly acknowledged by industry analysts as creating prolonged implementation complexity. |
| "Long putters (anchored putting) should be allowed" | **Unverifiable** | Normative claim. Factually, R&A/USGA banned anchored putting strokes under Rule 14-1b effective January 1, 2016. Whether the ban should be reversed is opinion. |
| "Ball drops from past heights should be restored" | **Unverifiable** | Normative claim. Factually, the 2019 Rules of Golf changed drop height from shoulder to knee height. Whether prior rules were superior is opinion. |

Overall Veracity: 72%

## Danger Assessment
**Level: None.** Standard golf commentary. No target, no grievance with escalatory potential, no dehumanization, no mobilization signal.

---

## Contextual Note: Displacement in Context
The psychological interest of this post is largely situational. On the same day Cohen testified about hush money payments and Stormy Daniels appeared in New York generating press coverage, Trump posted an emotional golf screed at midnight. The same-day "Horseface" post shows direct engagement with the legal threat. This golf post functions as an interlude — asserting competence and authority in a domain where consequences are nil, likely providing brief regulatory relief from the high-arousal legal context. This is psychologically mundane but worth noting longitudinally as a behavioral pattern under stress.

## Authorship Analysis

**Self-Written** (score: 88%)

### Indicators

- Posted at 04:17 UTC = ~11:17 PM EST / ~10:17 PM CST depending on whether Trump was at Mar-a-Lago or en route from Iowa rally — firmly late-night in either timezone
- Stream-of-consciousness construction: topic hops from ball distance to LIV to entertainment value to putters to drop heights without transitions
- ALL CAPS imperative: 'LEAVE THE GOLF BALL ALONE'
- Abrupt, declarative sentence cadence: 'What a mess.' and 'Balls will be mixed for years to come.'
- Personal passion domain — golf is a well-documented authentic Trump interest

## Psychological Profile

### State

**Grandiose State**

**Trigger:** Maintenance (USGA proposed distance rollback)

Sentiment: -0.30

### Clinical

**Malignant Narcissism:**
- Narcissistic: 30%
- Antisocial: 5%
- Paranoid: 10%
- Sadism: 0%

**Defense Mechanisms:**
- displacement (neurotic)
- rationalization (neurotic)

**Cognitive Complexity:**
- Complexity: 38%

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- Populist ventriloquism: 'People want to feel and watch the long ball' — speaks for the audience to validate his own preference
- Shared grievance construction: frames regulatory body as out-of-touch elite vs. the fans

## Fact Checks (5)

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

> USGA wanting to cut the distance out of a golf ball

**TRUE**

USGA and R&A published a proposed Model Local Rule in December 2022 to limit golf ball distance for elite-level play, sparking industry debate in early 2023.

Sources: USGA/R&A announcement December 2022

> USGA has bigger problems, like LIV

**MOSTLY TRUE**

LIV Golf's Saudi-backed competition created significant governance and membership disruption for PGA Tour and related bodies in 2022-2023, constituting a genuine institutional crisis.

Sources: General knowledge, sports coverage 2022-2023

> Balls will be mixed for years to come

**MOSTLY TRUE**

The proposed bifurcated standard (elite Tour ball vs. recreational ball) was broadly acknowledged by industry analysts as creating prolonged implementation complexity.

Sources: General knowledge of proposed USGA Model Local Rule

> Long putters (anchored putting) should be allowed

**UNVERIFIABLE**

Normative claim. Factually, R&A/USGA banned anchored putting strokes under Rule 14-1b effective January 1, 2016. Whether the ban should be reversed is opinion.

Sources: Rules of Golf 2016 revision

> Ball drops from past heights should be restored

**UNVERIFIABLE**

Normative claim. Factually, the 2019 Rules of Golf changed drop height from shoulder to knee height. Whether prior rules were superior is opinion.

Sources: Rules of Golf 2019 revision

Overall Veracity: 72%

## Tags

- golf (90%)
- USGA (70%)
- displacement (65%)
- anti-regulatory (60%)
- populist_framing (55%)
- late_night_authentic (88%)
- legal_stress_context (70%)
- LIV_golf (45%)

## That day

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

**Manhattan Grand Jury Testimony Triggers Day-Long Defensive Spiral**

Trump spent the day consumed by the Manhattan grand jury investigation, firing off defensive posts about Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen's testimony. A late-night burst of posting started with a raw denial and escalated to an all-caps rant about "fake investigations," with a brief detour into golf commentary that read like an anxiety break. The afternoon brought more targeted attacks naming specific prosecutors and trying to discredit Cohen as a witness. He ignored every major world event, including the Credit Suisse banking crisis, staying entirely focused on his own legal jeopardy.

Full digest for 2023-03-16: https://trump.fm/date/2023-03-16/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2023, March 16). Here we go again with the USGA wanting to cut the... [Social media post]. Truth Social. trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/ts_110031028151803241
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "Here we go again with the USGA wanting to cut the distance..." Truth Social, 16 Mar. 2023. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_110031028151803241. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "Here we go again with the USGA wanting to cut the distance...," Truth Social, March 16, 2023, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_110031028151803241.

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