# Post ts_110355937674453641

- Post ID: `ts_110355937674453641`
- Platform: Truth Social
- Posted: 2023-05-12T13:26:14.851Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/ts_110355937674453641
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/ts_110355937674453641/analysis
- Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/ts_110355937674453641.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording)

## Post text

> In May 2018, after a contentious primary with 6 candidates, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle - the widely viewed favorite - and then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp, advanced to the July 24 Republican primary runoff for Governor of Georgia. On July 18, 2018, President Donald J. Trump Endorsed Kemp. At the time of the Endorsement, aggregate polling showed Kemp trailing by 3%, 46%-43%. Less than a week after the Endorsement, Kemp won the Republican primary by 38%, 69%-31%. Thank you President Trump!

## Engagement

- Likes: 13,750
- Reposts: 3,160
- Replies: 415
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-02-01T01:19:51.412Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-03-20T04:44:32.730Z (UTC): a model's reading of this post, not his words. Its psychological terms describe the language, not a clinical assessment of him._

## Summary

Published hours after the E. Jean Carroll jury verdict and amid post-CNN Town Hall criticism, this aide-written retrospective endorsement post functions as a compensatory supply-seeking maneuver. At 9:26 AM EDT (business hours), with polished structure, precise statistics, and a third-person closing ("Thank you President Trump!"), authorship attribution points strongly to a communications staffer rather than Trump himself. The post's psychological function is transparent: it inserts a flattering 2018 electoral victory into the present media stream to assert ongoing political relevance at a moment of heightened vulnerability. Clinically, the most significant feature is pathological distortion by omission — by May 2023, Trump and Kemp had a deeply adversarial relationship that included Trump endorsing Kemp's primary challenger (who lost by 52 points). The post erases this entirely, presenting false historical continuity. This constitutes motivated selective narration consistent with the narcissistic defense of distortion: reshaping accessible historical reality to serve current ego-protection needs. The identity claim being asserted — I am the decisive electoral kingmaker — directly counters the implicit threat to relevance posed by the Carroll verdict and surrounding coverage. No danger indicators. No violent, dehumanizing, or mobilizing language present.

# Analysis: Truth Social Post — May 12, 2023 (ts_110355937674453641)

## Authorship Attribution
**Verdict: Aide-written (high confidence)**

Multiple convergent indicators point away from authentic Trump authorship. The post was published at **9:26 AM EDT** (business hours in Florida/New York), well outside Trump's documented late-night authentic posting window. The writing is grammatically polished — no typos, complete sentences, formally structured paragraphs — and deploys precise statistical framing (46%–43%, 69%–31%, "July 18, 2018") inconsistent with Trump's characteristically stream-of-consciousness authentic style. Most tellingly, the third-person closing **"Thank you President Trump!"** is a construction Trump does not organically produce. The entire post reads as a curated campaign messaging artifact, most likely authored by Scavino or comparable communications staff.

---

## Psychological Context and Function
This post arrived in the immediate wake of two significant narcissistic injuries: the **E. Jean Carroll jury verdict** (finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, awarding $5M in damages) and intense post-**CNN Town Hall** media criticism. Rather than engaging the present adversity, the post strategically retreats to a safely controlled 2018 victory — a classic compensatory supply-seeking maneuver.

The identity claim being asserted is unambiguous: *I am the decisive electoral kingmaker*. The precise polling data (trailing by 3%, then winning by 38%) constructs a near-mythological portrait of endorsement power, implicitly countering any narrative of Trump's diminishing influence.

---

## Clinically Significant Feature: Pathological Distortion via Omission
The most analytically significant element of this post is what it *does not say*. By May 2023, the Trump-Kemp relationship was one of the most publicly documented ruptures in Republican politics. Trump had:
- Repeatedly and viciously attacked Kemp for refusing to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results
- Explicitly endorsed David Perdue in the 2022 Georgia Republican gubernatorial primary specifically to defeat Kemp
- Watched Perdue lose to Kemp by over 50 percentage points

Presenting a glowing Trump-Kemp endorsement retrospective without any acknowledgment of this history constitutes **pathological distortion by omission** — not a memory lapse, but a motivated reshaping of relational reality for audience consumption. Followers who lack external knowledge receive a fundamentally false impression of the Trump-Kemp relationship.

This pattern is consistent with Vaillant's Level 1 defense of **distortion** (grossly reshaping reality to meet inner needs) operating in service of a grandiose narcissistic state.

---

## Multi-Level Personality Analysis

### Level 1: Dispositional Traits
Salient facets: very high *assertiveness* (dominance display via electoral statistics); very low *agreeableness* (instrumental use of Kemp's 2018 victory for self-aggrandizement, with no authentic acknowledgment of him as a person); low *openness* (rigidly self-referential historical narrative).

### Level 2: Characteristic Adaptations
Dominant **agency motive** (power, status) operating through a *political influence schema*: Trump's worth is measurable in election outcomes transformed by his intervention. The statistical framing externalizes and quantifies the power motive — it becomes empirically "provable."

### Level 3: Narrative Identity
- **Protagonist role**: Electoral sovereign — the figure whose endorsement converts a trailing candidate into a 38-point victor
- **Narrative sequence**: Redemption framing (underdog Kemp + Trump intervention → historic triumph)
- **Identity claims**: "My political power is decisive, historically documented, and numerically demonstrable"
- **Contrasting other** (implicit): Those questioning Trump's contemporary relevance and electoral influence

---

## Rhetorical Analysis
The rhetoric is notably restrained compared to authentic Trump posts — no hyperbole, no ALL CAPS, no enemies named. The primary persuasion mechanism is **numerical credibility**: precise polling deltas simulate objectivity, lending an evidence-based veneer to what is fundamentally a self-promotional narrative. The significant rhetorical technique is **motivated omission** — the post's false completeness is its most manipulative feature.

---

## Fact Verification

| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|-------|---------|----------|
| "In May 2018, 6 candidates competed in the Georgia Republican gubernatorial primary" | **Mostly True** | The 2018 Georgia Republican gubernatorial primary did feature a crowded field including Cagle, Kemp, Hunter Hill, Michael Williams, Clay Tippins, and others. The count of 6 is approximately accurate. |
| "Casey Cagle was the widely viewed favorite" | **True** | Cagle, as sitting Lieutenant Governor with strong name recognition and establishment support, was broadly considered the frontrunner heading into the primary and runoff. |
| "Brian Kemp was then-Secretary of State" | **True** | Kemp had served as Georgia Secretary of State since 2010 and held that office when running for governor in 2018. |
| "Trump endorsed Kemp on July 18, 2018" | **Mostly True** | Trump did endorse Kemp ahead of the July 24 runoff. The specific date of July 18 is plausible but cannot be independently verified from general knowledge alone. |
| "At time of endorsement, aggregate polling showed Kemp trailing 46%-43%" | **Unverifiable** | Specific aggregate polling figures for the Georgia 2018 runoff are not verifiable from general knowledge. Cagle was leading Kemp heading into the runoff — the directional claim is plausible, but the precise figures cannot be confirmed. |
| "Kemp won the Republican primary by 38%, with a 69%-31% result" | **Mostly True** | Kemp did win the July 24, 2018 runoff by a very large margin after Trump's endorsement. The approximately 69%-31% result is consistent with reported outcomes from that race. |

Overall Veracity: 82%

## Summary Assessment
Clinically unremarkable as an isolated post. Its significance is contextual and structural: it is a well-executed aide-written supply maneuver deployed at a moment of compounded narcissistic injury, featuring motivated historical distortion as its central psychological mechanism. No danger indicators. No violent, dehumanizing, or mobilizing content.

## Authorship Analysis

**Aide-Written** (score: 12%)

### Indicators

- 9:26 AM EDT — business hours, inconsistent with Trump's late-night authentic posting pattern
- Polished grammar: no typos, complete sentences, formally structured paragraphs
- Precise dates and statistics presented in journalistic style (July 18, 2018; 46%-43%; 69%-31%)
- Third-person closing 'Thank you President Trump!' — Trump does not write about himself in third person organically
- Formal capitalization of titles and offices throughout

## Psychological Profile

### State

**Grandiose State**

**Trigger:** Supply Seeking — Defeat (E. Jean Carroll verdict and post-CNN Town Hall media criticism)

Sentiment: +0.62

### Clinical

**Malignant Narcissism:**
- Narcissistic: 55%
- Antisocial: 25%
- Paranoid: 5%
- Sadism: 0%

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

**Cognitive Complexity:**
- Complexity: 52%

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- Third-person self-reference positions Trump as figure of historical stature
- Statistical specificity creates sense of sharing insider political knowledge with audience
- Framing as tribute invites audience to participate in celebration of his power

## Danger Assessment

**NONE**

### Gaslighting

- Post creates false impression of positive ongoing Trump-Kemp relationship by omitting 2020-2023 public rupture
- Presents selective historical narrative as complete record — followers without external knowledge receive distorted relational reality
- No explicit false claims but motivated omission constructs false continuity

## Fact Checks (6)

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

> In May 2018, 6 candidates competed in the Georgia Republican gubernatorial primary

**MOSTLY TRUE**

The 2018 Georgia Republican gubernatorial primary did feature a crowded field including Cagle, Kemp, Hunter Hill, Michael Williams, Clay Tippins, and others. The count of 6 is approximately accurate.

Sources: General knowledge of 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race

> Casey Cagle was the widely viewed favorite

**TRUE**

Cagle, as sitting Lieutenant Governor with strong name recognition and establishment support, was broadly considered the frontrunner heading into the primary and runoff.

Sources: General knowledge

> Brian Kemp was then-Secretary of State

**TRUE**

Kemp had served as Georgia Secretary of State since 2010 and held that office when running for governor in 2018.

Sources: General knowledge

> Trump endorsed Kemp on July 18, 2018

**MOSTLY TRUE**

Trump did endorse Kemp ahead of the July 24 runoff. The specific date of July 18 is plausible but cannot be independently verified from general knowledge alone.

Sources: General knowledge of 2018 Georgia endorsement

> At time of endorsement, aggregate polling showed Kemp trailing 46%-43%

**UNVERIFIABLE**

Specific aggregate polling figures for the Georgia 2018 runoff are not verifiable from general knowledge. Cagle was leading Kemp heading into the runoff — the directional claim is plausible, but the precise figures cannot be confirmed.

> Kemp won the Republican primary by 38%, with a 69%-31% result

**MOSTLY TRUE**

Kemp did win the July 24, 2018 runoff by a very large margin after Trump's endorsement. The approximately 69%-31% result is consistent with reported outcomes from that race.

Sources: General knowledge of 2018 Georgia runoff results

Overall Veracity: 82%

## Tags

- endorsement-retrospective (90%)
- aide-authored (90%)
- supply-seeking (85%)
- narcissistic-injury-response (80%)
- historical-revisionism (85%)
- kemp-georgia (80%)
- carroll-verdict-context (75%)
- motivated-omission (80%)
- kingmaker-narrative (75%)

## That day

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

**Kingmaker Narrative Deployed as Shield Against Carroll Verdict Fallout**

Trump spent the day aggressively reasserting his political influence, posting a coordinated series of claims about having single-handedly created the careers of both Brian Kemp and Ron DeSantis. The DeSantis attacks escalated from historical narrative to personal insult, declaring he needs a "personality transplant." A high-intensity all-caps post about the southern border appeared to channel frustration from the E. Jean Carroll verdict days earlier into a more comfortable target. The day closed quietly with a campaign slogan video and a Breitbart link celebrating his CNN Town Hall performance.

Full digest for 2023-05-12: https://trump.fm/date/2023-05-12/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2023, May 12). In May 2018, after a contentious primary with 6... [Social media post]. Truth Social. trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/ts_110355937674453641
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "In May 2018, after a contentious primary with 6 candidates,..." Truth Social, 12 May. 2023. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_110355937674453641. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "In May 2018, after a contentious primary with 6 candidates,...," Truth Social, May 12, 2023, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_110355937674453641.

## For agents

- Site overview: https://trump.fm/llms.txt
- API specification: https://trump.fm/openapi.json
- MCP server: https://trump.fm/mcp (search and fetch tools, no auth)
- This post as JSON: https://trump.fm/api/posts/ts_110355937674453641
- Analysis as JSON: https://trump.fm/api/analysis/ts_110355937674453641
- All citation formats: https://trump.fm/api/cite/ts_110355937674453641
- Same day: https://trump.fm/date/2023-05-12
- The record alone, without the analysis: https://trump.fm/post/ts_110355937674453641.md?analysis=false

_Markdown view of a trump.fm page. Post, analysis, date, feed, contradictions, search and about pages answer in markdown at their URL with `.md` appended (`/index.md` for the home page), or when sent `Accept: text/markdown`._