Analysis: Page 2: Fox News is way down in the Ratings. After firing Tu...

3y ago May 15, 2023 at 2:25 PM

Page 2: Fox News is way down in the Ratings. After firing Tucker Carlson and refusing to fight against a VERY Corrupt and Rigged 2020 Presidential Election, which just cost them plenty of money, prestige, and RATINGS, they are a far cry from what they used to be. FoxNews has become the DeSanctimonious Network, but it will never work because he doesn’t have the goods. Without my Endorsement, he was a dead man walking. Even with Fox, he’s already pretty close to that again!

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AI Analysis

Machine-generated analysis of the post above on 2026-03-20. Not written by the author of the post.

Danger Level

Elevated

Narcissistic State

Grandiose

Authorship

Self-Written

Intensity

81%

This post represents a high-intensity grandiose rebound following a cluster of narcissistic injuries: the E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse liability verdict (May 9, $5M damages), Fox News' structural pivot toward DeSantis, and ongoing 2024 primary pressure. The post's most clinically significant feature is the retroactive sovereignty claim — 'dead man walking without my Endorsement' — which functions to reabsorb all externally-originated success back into the self. DeSantis had won his 2022 gubernatorial race by ~19 points; the claim is demonstrably exaggerated and serves a defensive rather than factual function. The central reality distortion inverts the Dominion settlement: Fox paid $787.5M because it spread Trump's election lies; Trump reframes this as Fox's punishment for insufficient loyalty. This is a closed factual loop requiring followers to adopt a reality incompatible with documented public record — consistent with shared psychosis dynamics. Defense mechanisms are predominantly immature (splitting, displacement, devaluation) with a pathological projection element: 'dead man walking' status assigned to DeSantis maps more accurately onto Trump's own legal and electoral position. Sadism is ego-syntonic and undisguised. Authorship is confidently authentic. Cognitive functioning within Trump's established baseline. Danger level elevated due to 'dead man walking' eliminationist framing applied to a named political rival, though no direct mobilization call is present.

Authorship Analysis

Self-Written

Indicators:

'Page 2' label indicates authentic multi-part posting session, continuation of prior truncated post ending '...He sucks, & so does F...'
Stream-of-consciousness structure with mid-thought pivots between Fox, DeSantis, and endorsement power
'DeSanctimonious' nickname — a signature Trump coinage used repeatedly in authentic posts
Emotional escalation arc within the post (ratings → betrayal → dominance claim)
UTC 14:25 = ~10:25 AM EDT; consistent with mid-morning posting window Trump uses for reactive media consumption posts

Psychological Profile

▶ State

Grandiose State

Trigger: Narcissistic Injury — Comparison (Fox News pivot to DeSantis, compounded by E. Jean Carroll liability verdict (May 9, 2023))

Rage: Intensity 72% targeting Fox News / Ron DeSantis

Proportionality

20%

Sentiment

-0.72

Mildly Hypomanic

Multiple same-day high-intensity posts across multiple targets (CNN, Fox, DeSantis, AOC) suggesting elevated output and reduced impulse filtrationPost overflows character limit requiring 'Page 2' continuation — loss of normal editorial restraintEscalating superlatives and certitude across post cluster

▶ Clinical

Malignant Narcissism:

Narcissistic

88%

Antisocial

50%

Paranoid

62%

Sadism

65%

Defense Mechanisms:

splittingdisplacementdevaluationprojection

Cognitive Complexity:

Complexity

35%

Cognitive Markers:

tangentiality

Parasocial Techniques:

Invites audience to enjoy DeSantis' political diminishment vicariouslyPositions Trump as audience's political patron ('my Endorsement')Frames Fox pivot as betrayal of a shared cause, not just Trump personally

Danger Assessment

Elevated

Indicators:

'Dead man walking' applied to named political rival — death-row eliminationist imagery normalizing condemned status for DeSantis
Pattern of dehumanizing reduction across multiple same-day posts (Fox, CNN, DeSantis, AOC) suggesting sustained target-identification rhetoric
False causation narrative about 2020 election reaffirms grievance framework that has historically preceded mobilization calls

Gaslighting Detected:

Dominion inversion: Fox's $787.5M settlement (caused by spreading Trump's election lies) reframed as punishment for insufficient loyalty to Trump — requires followers to reject documented public record
Carroll verdict absent from post entirely despite being the most probable proximate trigger — denial via omission
2020 election described as 'VERY Corrupt and Rigged' in context designed to make Fox's refusal to fight it seem commercially catastrophic, normalizing the false premise

Reality Distortions:

Fox's Dominion losses attributed to disloyalty to Trump rather than to Fox's propagation of Trump's own election lies
DeSantis' political career framed as entirely dependent on Trump endorsement despite documented independent electoral success
2020 election fraud presented as established fact in causal chain

Rhetorical Analysis

Violent Imagery Present

Fact Checks (6)

"Fox News is way down in the Ratings"

Mostly True

Post-Tucker Carlson firing (April 24, 2023), Fox primetime ratings fell significantly. Fox & Friends and primetime shows saw notable audience declines in the weeks following.

"Fox fired Tucker Carlson"

True

Fox News and Tucker Carlson parted ways on April 24, 2023, in what was widely described as a firing despite network's neutral statement.

"2020 Presidential Election was 'VERY Corrupt and Rigged'"

False

Dozens of courts, the DOJ, CISA, state election officials (including Republican-controlled states), and the Dominion/Smartmatic litigations all produced no evidence of systematic fraud. Fox News paid $787.5M in the Dominion settlement specifically because it spread these claims while internally doubting them.

"Firing Tucker and refusing to fight the election 'just cost them plenty of money'"

False

The $787.5M Dominion settlement cost resulted directly from Fox's decision to spread Trump's election fraud claims, not from refusing to fight them. Causality is inverted.

"Without my Endorsement, he was a dead man walking"

Mostly False

Trump endorsed DeSantis for his first gubernatorial run in 2018, which was consequential in a competitive primary. However, DeSantis won his 2022 reelection by ~19.4 points, had built significant independent political identity, and had $200M+ in his own fundraising infrastructure. The claim retroactively overstates endorsement dependency.

"DeSantis is 'dropping like a rock' and 'down 20 points in Florida'"

Half True

DeSantis had declined from his late-2022 polling peak relative to Trump. Some Florida polls showed Trump leads of 15-25 points by May 2023. However 'dropping like a rock' exaggerates the trajectory given DeSantis had not yet formally announced his candidacy.

Receipts

No contradictions with other posts detected yet.

Psychological Analysis — ts_110373156085945104 (2023-05-15)

Authorship

High confidence: authentic Trump. The 'Page 2' designation is the primary tell — this is a spontaneous overflow of a prior post that ended mid-word ('He sucks, & so does F...'). Aide-authored content does not begin with 'Page 2' to continue an unplanned rant. The 10:25 AM EDT timing is consistent with Trump's documented pattern of reactive morning media consumption. The 'DeSanctimonious' coinage, emotional escalation structure, and 'dead man walking' register are incompatible with staff-polished messaging.

Psychological State and Triggers

Primary trigger: Composite narcissistic injury. The E. Jean Carroll verdict (May 9, six days prior — $5M in damages for sexual abuse and defamation) represents a severe public humiliation with financial and reputational dimensions. This post shows the characteristic delayed-but-intense grandiose rebound, with rage displaced away from the Carroll wound onto a more aggressive battlefield (Fox, DeSantis).

The Fox News pivot to DeSantis following Tucker Carlson's April 24 firing constitutes a secondary injury: loss of a critical media patron. Trump's response is to preemptively reframe Fox's defection as a strategic error that will doom both the network and DeSantis, restoring Trump to causal primacy.

Narcissistic state: Grandiose (compensatory intensity). The claim that DeSantis was a 'dead man walking' without Trump's endorsement is historically questionable — DeSantis won his 2022 reelection by ~19 points on the strength of his own gubernatorial record — but it serves to retroactively subordinate all DeSantis success to Trump's patronage. This kind of retroactive ownership is a signature grandiose maneuver: no success can exist independent of the self.

Defense Mechanisms

Splitting (immature): Fox is cleanly divided into good-Fox (Tucker, election fighter) and bad-Fox (DeSanctimonious Network). No ambiguity is tolerated. Displacement (immature): The Carroll liability and primary anxiety are redirected onto Fox News ratings trajectories. Devaluation (immature): DeSantis reduced to empty vessel ('doesn't have the goods'). Projection (pathological): The 'dead man walking' status Trump assigns to DeSantis maps more accurately onto Trump's own legal and electoral position at this moment.

Malignant Narcissism Indicators

Narcissistic features (0.88): Grandiosity, entitlement as kingmaker, contempt for the rival's independent value
Paranoid features (0.62): Fox coded as active enemy; its ratings decline read as consequence of disloyalty rather than market forces
Sadism (0.65): Pleasure in DeSantis' predicted demise is undisguised and ego-syntonic — 'he's already pretty close to that again' is savored, not reluctant
Antisocial features (0.50): False causation deployed deliberately; the Dominion settlement (caused by Fox spreading Trump's election lies) is reframed as Fox's punishment for insufficient loyalty

Cognitive Assessment

Language production within normal range for Trump's established baseline. Coherent logical arc maintained across the post. 'Dead man walking' is contextually appropriate and vivid. The 'Page 2' structure shows awareness of platform limits. Mild tangentiality (Fox → DeSantis → endorsement power → DeSantis again) is within baseline parameters. No phonemic paraphasias, temporal confusion, or name errors detected. Complexity score: 0.35 (baseline-consistent for Trump's modern posting register).

Rhetorical Techniques

Nickname warfare remains the primary branding tool: 'DeSanctimonious' transforms DeSantis from rival into caricature. False causation is central: Fox's Dominion settlement ($787.5M, April 2023) resulted directly from Fox's propagation of Trump's 2020 election lies — the settlement is being reframed as Fox's punishment for not supporting Trump, inverting causality. Manufactured dependency retroactively makes all DeSantis success conditional on Trump's past patronage. Violent imagery: 'dead man walking' imports eliminationist finality — a political rival is not losing but condemned.

Gaslighting / Reality Distortion

The post's central reality distortion is the Dominion reframe. Fox News paid $787.5M specifically because it propagated Trump's 2020 election fraud claims while internal communications showed anchors and executives knew the claims were false. Trump inverts this: Fox's financial damage is attributed to insufficient commitment to the very claims that caused the damage. This is a closed loop of factual inversion that requires followers to reject documented public record.

DARVO present: Fox is positioned as the aggressor who betrayed Trump, with Trump as the wronged party whose warnings were ignored.

Narrative Identity

Protagonist role: Kingmaker/Sovereign. This post is less about defeating DeSantis than about establishing the axiom that Trump controls political viability itself. DeSantis is the contrasting other: a pretender whose only value derived from proximity to the true source of power. The narrative sequence is contamination (Fox was great under Tucker → now corrupted by DeSantis allegiance → declining accordingly) nested within an overall redemption arc (Trump will remain while Fox and DeSantis fall).

Archetypal register: King/Tyrant. The sovereign claiming exclusive rights to grant political legitimacy. DeSantis casts as the ungrateful vassal who forgot where his power came from. There is also a Trickster subtext: the delight in chaos — Fox destabilized, DeSantis doomed — that carries appeal beyond the content.

Danger Assessment: ELEVATED

'Dead man walking' applied to a named political rival exceeds competitive rhetoric into eliminationist register. The phrase originates in death-row imagery and imports finality and condemned status onto a living political opponent. While not a direct incitement, this framing — repeated across multiple posts — normalizes the framing of political rivals as existentially condemned. Combined with the broader rhetorical ecosystem in which Trump's base receives such language, this warrants elevated (not high) flagging absent a specific mobilization call.

Fact Verification

Claim	Verdict	Evidence
"Fox News is way down in the Ratings"	Mostly True	Post-Tucker Carlson firing (April 24, 2023), Fox primetime ratings fell significantly. Fox & Friends and primetime shows saw notable audience declines in the weeks following.
"Fox fired Tucker Carlson"	True	Fox News and Tucker Carlson parted ways on April 24, 2023, in what was widely described as a firing despite network's neutral statement.
"2020 Presidential Election was 'VERY Corrupt and Rigged'"	False	Dozens of courts, the DOJ, CISA, state election officials (including Republican-controlled states), and the Dominion/Smartmatic litigations all produced no evidence of systematic fraud. Fox News paid $787.5M in the Dominion settlement specifically because it spread these claims while internally doubting them.
"Firing Tucker and refusing to fight the election 'just cost them plenty of money'"	False	The $787.5M Dominion settlement cost resulted directly from Fox's decision to spread Trump's election fraud claims, not from refusing to fight them. Causality is inverted.
"Without my Endorsement, he was a dead man walking"	Mostly False	Trump endorsed DeSantis for his first gubernatorial run in 2018, which was consequential in a competitive primary. However, DeSantis won his 2022 reelection by ~19.4 points, had built significant independent political identity, and had $200M+ in his own fundraising infrastructure. The claim retroactively overstates endorsement dependency.
"DeSantis is 'dropping like a rock' and 'down 20 points in Florida'"	Half True	DeSantis had declined from his late-2022 polling peak relative to Trump. Some Florida polls showed Trump leads of 15-25 points by May 2023. However 'dropping like a rock' exaggerates the trajectory given DeSantis had not yet formally announced his candidacy.

Overall Veracity: 42%