# Post ts_110839099117011681

- Post ID: `ts_110839099117011681`
- Platform: Truth Social
- Posted: 2023-08-05T21:20:33.312Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/ts_110839099117011681
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/ts_110839099117011681/analysis
- Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/ts_110839099117011681.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording)

## Post text

> WOW, it’s finally happened! Liddle’ Mike Pence, a man who was about to be ousted as Governor Indiana until I came along and made him V.P., has gone to the Dark Side. I never told a newly emboldened (not based on his 2% poll numbers!) Pence to put me above the Constitution, or that Mike was “too honest.” He’s delusional, and now he wants to show he’s a tough guy. I once read a major magazine article on Mike. It said he was not a very good person. I was surprised, but the article was right. Sad!

## Engagement

- Likes: 33,430
- Reposts: 9,880
- Replies: 4,568
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-02-01T01:19:51.403Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-03-20T07:00:03.915Z (UTC): a model's reading of this post, not his words. Its psychological terms describe the language, not a clinical assessment of him._

## Summary

Posted two days after Trump's arraignment on January 6 charges, this post represents a legally and psychologically significant attack on Mike Pence, a key witness whose testimony directly threatens Trump's legal defense. The trigger is a compound narcissistic injury — exposure by a former ally whose credibility cannot be easily dismissed, at a moment of acute legal vulnerability. The response follows a textbook DARVO sequence: denial of documented statements, systematic devaluation across professional/moral/psychological dimensions, and reversal of victim and offender (Pence's constitutional compliance recast as cosmic betrayal). Defense mechanisms include pathological denial of statements documented in Pence's own memoir, devaluation, projection (labeling Pence "delusional"), and distortion of Indiana political history. The "magazine article" anecdote — vague, unverifiable, conveniently damning — is consistent with Trump's established confabulation-adjacent rhetorical baseline; no new cognitive deviation detected. The post operates simultaneously as competitive messaging (neutralizing a 2% primary rival), legal counter-narrative (denying unconstitutional demands), and social control signal (demonstrating the cost of defection). Authorship is assessed as highly authentic Trump. Danger is assessed as elevated: this post continues a pattern of publicly reidentifying Pence as traitor at a moment when Trump's base has demonstrated willingness to target him physically, compounded by Trump's concurrent threatening posts that prosecutors have already flagged for witness intimidation review.

# Psychological Analysis: ts_110839099117011681 (2023-08-05)

## Situational Context
This post arrives two days after Trump's arraignment in Washington DC on four federal charges directly tied to January 6 — charges to which Pence's testimony and public statements are material. Pence launched his presidential campaign in June, explicitly positioning himself against Trump on January 6 and constitutional grounds. The post therefore operates at the intersection of legal threat and competitive threat, producing an unusually high-intensity attack on a former close ally.

---

## Level 1: Dispositional Traits

| Trait | Salience | Textual Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| **Neuroticism** | Very High | "WOW," theatrical outrage, "Sad!" — reactive emotionality throughout |
| **Agreeableness** | Very Low | Systematic devaluation of former running mate, zero acknowledgment of Pence's perspective |
| **Extraversion** | High | Assertive, performative, audience-directed framing |
| **Conscientiousness** | Low | No factual grounding, no logical argument — pure affective attack |
| **Openness** | Very Low | Binary moral framing ("Dark Side"), no capacity to integrate Pence's viewpoint |

---

## Level 2: Characteristic Adaptations

**Agency motives dominate overwhelmingly.** The post is structured around power, status, and control:
- Power: "I came along and made him V.P." — credit-claiming as dominance display
- Status: Mocking Pence's 2% polling renders him unworthy of engagement, while Trump implicitly remains the alpha
- Control: Framing Pence's actions as ingratitude attempts to reassert Trump's authority over the political narrative

**Communion motives are entirely absent.** No warmth, no reciprocity, no acknowledgment of shared history — the relationship is transactional patronage.

**Key schemas:**
- *Self schema:* Kingmaker who elevates undeserving vassals from obscurity; victim of ingratitude
- *Other schema (Pence):* Useful tool that has malfunctioned, now enemy; inherently weak ("not a very good person")
- *World schema:* Loyalty is the supreme value; any deviation is betrayal and warrants destruction

---

## Level 3: Narrative Identity

**Protagonist role:** Benevolent patron betrayed — Trump saved Pence from obscurity and received disloyalty in return. This is the classic Shakespearean ingrate narrative (Coriolanus, Lear).

**Narrative sequence:** *Contamination* — Trump elevated Pence (good) → Pence "went to the Dark Side" (betrayal/corruption). The sequence justifies rage as proportionate grief.

**Contrasting other:** Pence serves as the shadow-projection screen — "delusional," "not a very good person," a "tough guy" performer with no substance. Everything attributed to Pence is a disowned quality Trump cannot consciously claim.

**Identity claims:**
- "I came along and made him V.P." — I am the kingmaker
- Implicit: I am the arbiter of constitutional interpretation (denying he told Pence to violate it frames him as the constitutional defender)
- I am the standard by which loyalty is measured

---

## Level 4: Clinical Indicators

### Malignant Narcissism (Kernberg)

**A. Narcissistic Features (high, 0.88):**
Grandiosity ("made him V.P."), entitlement (expectation of perpetual loyalty regardless of circumstances), interpersonal exploitation (treating the VP relationship as client-patron obligation), and complete absence of empathy for Pence's constitutional dilemma.

**B. Antisocial Features (moderate, 0.55):**
The flat denial of documented statements ("I never told...") constitutes active deceitfulness. Pence's memoir and testimony directly contradict this denial. No remorse for asking Pence to act unconstitutionally is evident.

**C. Paranoid Features (high, 0.70):**
"Dark Side" framing reads constitutional compliance as cosmic betrayal. The post implies a conspiratorial motivation for Pence's actions (ambition to "show he's a tough guy") rather than principled disagreement. Grudge-bearing is explicit and elaborate.

**D. Ego-Syntonic Sadism (moderate-high, 0.63):**
The post is not defensive — it is prosecutorial and relishing. The layered devaluation (polling numbers, magazine article, "delusional") reflects pleasure in the demolition, not mere self-protection.

### Narcissistic Dynamics

**Trigger:** Compound narcissistic injury — *exposure* by a former ally whose credibility is difficult to dismiss, at a moment when that exposure carries direct legal consequences. Pence cannot be easily labeled a partisan enemy (he served as Trump's VP), making him a particularly threatening source of injury.

**Rage:** Present, intensity 0.72. Disproportionate (0.12) relative to the proximate cause (a rival candidate making political statements). The rage is better understood as a response to the totality of the legal threat Pence represents than to the surface provocation.

**Narcissistic state:** *Mixed* — oscillating between grandiose ("I made him") and vulnerable ("he's going to show he's a tough guy," implicit threat). The grandiose framing is defensive armor over an underlying vulnerable state activated by the indictment.

### Defense Mechanisms

1. **Denial (pathological):** Direct denial of statements documented in Pence's memoir, by Pence's own aides, and in journalistic accounts. Not rationalization — flat denial of documented reality.

2. **Devaluation (immature):** Systematic across multiple dimensions: professional ("2%"), moral ("not a very good person"), psychological ("delusional"), and physical/social ("wants to show he's a tough guy").

3. **Projection (immature):** Labeling Pence "delusional" while the post contains demonstrably false historical revisionism. The delusional processing is in the accuser.

4. **Distortion (pathological):** The claim that Pence was "about to be ousted as Governor" reshapes Indiana political history to construct a debt Pence owes Trump.

### Cognitive Status

No marked deviation from established baseline. The "magazine article" anecdote follows a well-documented pattern: vague, unverifiable, conveniently damning, presented with performative reluctance. This is consistent with Trump's baseline confabulation-adjacent rhetorical style rather than a new cognitive marker. Syntactic complexity is low but consistent with his established register. No word-finding difficulty, paraphasia, or temporal confusion detected.

**Baseline deviation:** None

---

## Rhetorical & Propaganda Analysis

The post achieves three goals simultaneously with remarkable economy:
1. **Competitive:** Reduces Pence to a 2% also-ran, neutralizing him as a primary threat
2. **Legal:** Reframes the January 6 narrative by denying Trump made unconstitutional demands — directly relevant to the active prosecution
3. **Social control:** Signals to other potential witnesses/collaborators that defection results in public destruction

The **DARVO structure** (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender) is particularly precise:
- *Deny:* "I never told...Pence to put me above the Constitution"
- *Attack:* "delusional," "not a very good person," "Liddle'"
- *Reverse:* Pence "went to the Dark Side" — Trump is the victim of betrayal, not the perpetrator of pressure

The unnamed magazine article is a masterclass in unfalsifiable character assassination: it cannot be checked, rebutted, or attributed. It functions as social proof ("I was surprised, but the article was right") while requiring no evidence.

---

## Gaslighting & Reality Distortion

**DARVO confirmed** (see above). The specific denial of the "too honest" quote is notable: this statement was widely reported (in Bob Woodward and Robert Costa's *Peril*, among other sources) as something Trump said about Pence. By denying it here, Trump attempts to rewrite a documented record. The framing also reverses the moral positions: Pence following constitutional duty becomes "going to the Dark Side," while Trump's pressure campaign is erased from the record.

---

## Archetypal Analysis (Jungian)

**Primary archetypes:**
- *King/Tyrant:* Claims sovereign authority over Pence's career and fate; the post reads as royal denunciation — banishment from the court
- *Betrayed Father:* The patron-client relationship collapses into parent-child betrayal narrative; Pence is cast as prodigal who chose the wrong path

**Shadow projection:** Everything devalued in Pence — weakness, delusion, performance of toughness — represents disowned qualities. Trump's own cognitive vulnerability, his own performance of toughness, his own role in the constitutional crisis are projected outward onto Pence.

**Mythological narrative:** The vassal who serves and is given everything, then chooses principle over fealty. Trump's framing requires the audience to side with the liege against the principled vassal — a medieval loyalty schema applied to modern constitutional democracy.

---

## Order/Chaos Dynamics

Trump positions as **order attacker** — the constitutional/legal order that Pence represents is cast as the enemy ("Dark Side"). Simultaneously operates as **order restorer** — implicitly promising a return to the proper hierarchy where loyalty to Trump supersedes institutional obligation.

Grievance: Pence violated the supreme value (loyalty to Trump) at the moment of maximum need. The intensity is extreme (0.72 rage). Blame is singular and explicit.

---

## Danger Assessment

**Danger level: ELEVATED**

Specific factors:
- This post publicly reidentifies Pence as traitor/enemy days after Trump posted "If you go after me, I'm coming after you" (cited by prosecutors in their protective order request)
- Pence was a target of the January 6 crowd ("Hang Mike Pence" chants); renewed public devaluation in this charged post-indictment moment reactivates that targeting dynamic
- The post functions as a social signal to Trump's base about who is an acceptable target for animus
- No explicit violent imagery or eliminationist language (distinguishing this from *critical* level)
- Context of the broader threatening post pattern elevates this above *none*

---

## Fact Verification

| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|-------|---------|----------|
| "Pence 'was about to be ousted as Governor Indiana' before Trump made him VP" | **Mostly False** | Pence's Indiana approval ratings were declining in 2016 but multiple analysts assessed his re-election as uncertain, not definitively lost. Trump's framing overstates Pence's political peril to maximize the debt narrative. |
| "I never told Pence to put me above the Constitution" | **False** | Documented in Pence's memoir 'So Help Me God,' Woodward and Costa's 'Peril,' and multiple firsthand accounts that Trump repeatedly and explicitly pressured Pence to refuse electoral certification. |
| "Trump never said Pence was 'too honest'" | **Mostly False** | The quote was reported in 'Peril' (Woodward/Costa) and other accounts as something Trump said about Pence. Trump's denial contradicts multiple sourced journalistic records. |
| "Pence has 2% poll numbers" | **Mostly True** | Approximately accurate for Pence's 2024 Republican primary polling as of mid-2023; he was polling in low single digits in major surveys, well behind Trump and DeSantis. |

Overall Veracity: 30%

## Authorship Analysis

**Self-Written** (score: 92%)

### Indicators

- 'Liddle'' diminutive nickname — registered Trump trademark for enemies
- 'WOW' exclamatory opener consistent with authentic posts
- Parenthetical asides '(not based on his 2% poll numbers!)' — stream-of-consciousness interjection
- 'Sad!' closing — canonical Trump sign-off
- Vague, unverifiable magazine article anecdote — classic Trumpian appeals to unnamed authority

## Psychological Profile

### State

**Mixed State**

**Trigger:** Narcissistic Injury — Exposure (Mike Pence)

**Rage:** Intensity 72% targeting Mike Pence
- Proportionality: 12%

Sentiment: -0.78

### Clinical

**Malignant Narcissism:**
- Narcissistic: 88%
- Antisocial: 55%
- Paranoid: 70%
- Sadism: 63%

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

**Cognitive Complexity:**
- Complexity: 28%

Cognitive Markers:
- confabulation

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- Triangulation of audience as witness to Pence's 'betrayal'
- Mock incredulity ('WOW, it's finally happened!') that invites audience to share in theatrical surprise
- Confiding anecdote style ('I once read a major magazine article...') simulating intimacy

## Danger Assessment

**ELEVATED**

### Indicators

- Post publicly reidentifies Pence as traitor/enemy two days after Trump's 'I'm coming after you' post flagged by prosecutors as potential witness intimidation
- Pence is a documented target of January 6 crowd violence ('Hang Mike Pence'); renewed public devaluation reactivates that targeting dynamic within Trump's base
- Post signals to followers the social cost of cooperation with prosecutors — functions as deterrent to other potential witnesses
- Situated within a cluster of post-arraignment threatening communications that prosecutors cited in protective order request
- Pattern of escalating enemy-designation: from political rival to 'Dark Side' traitor in a single post

### Gaslighting

- Denial of documented statements: 'I never told...Pence to put me above the Constitution' contradicts Pence's own memoir and multiple sourced accounts
- Denial of documented quote: Trump's denial that he called Pence 'too honest' contradicts reporting in Woodward/Costa's Peril and other accounts
- DARVO reversal: Pence following constitutional duty reframed as 'going to the Dark Side,' positioning Trump as victim of Pence's principled defection
- Historical revisionism: Pence 'about to be ousted' narrative constructs a debt that justifies expectation of absolute loyalty

## Fact Checks (4)

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

> Pence 'was about to be ousted as Governor Indiana' before Trump made him VP

**MOSTLY FALSE**

Pence's Indiana approval ratings were declining in 2016 but multiple analysts assessed his re-election as uncertain, not definitively lost. Trump's framing overstates Pence's political peril to maximize the debt narrative.

Sources: Indiana political polling 2015-2016; Contemporaneous news accounts of Pence's gubernatorial standing

> I never told Pence to put me above the Constitution

**FALSE**

Documented in Pence's memoir 'So Help Me God,' Woodward and Costa's 'Peril,' and multiple firsthand accounts that Trump repeatedly and explicitly pressured Pence to refuse electoral certification.

Sources: Mike Pence, 'So Help Me God' (2023); Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, 'Peril' (2021); January 6 Select Committee testimony

> Trump never said Pence was 'too honest'

**MOSTLY FALSE**

The quote was reported in 'Peril' (Woodward/Costa) and other accounts as something Trump said about Pence. Trump's denial contradicts multiple sourced journalistic records.

Sources: Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, 'Peril' (2021)

> Pence has 2% poll numbers

**MOSTLY TRUE**

Approximately accurate for Pence's 2024 Republican primary polling as of mid-2023; he was polling in low single digits in major surveys, well behind Trump and DeSantis.

Sources: RealClearPolitics polling averages, summer 2023

Overall Veracity: 30%

## Tags

- betrayal_narrative (95%)
- DARVO (92%)
- devaluation (90%)
- witness_targeting (85%)
- narcissistic_injury_response (88%)
- historical_revisionism (82%)
- post_arraignment (90%)
- Liddle_nickname (80%)
- patronage_narrative (78%)
- malignant_narcissism (75%)

## That day

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

**Two Days After Arraignment, Trump Cycles Through the Full Post-Indictment Playbook: Destroy, Deny, Validate, Repeat**

Trump spent the day barnstorming from Alabama to South Carolina, never once acknowledging his federal arraignment two days earlier but clearly consumed by it. The morning opened with combative rhetoric about destroying the "deep state" and closed with a lengthy, personal attack on Mike Pence — the former vice president turned key prosecution witness. In between, a stream of crowd-size boasts, rally links, and a golf tournament ad maintained a veneer of campaign normalcy. The Pence post stood out as the day's emotional peak, combining personal grievance, historical revisionism, and pointed devaluation of a witness whose testimony threatens Trump's legal defense.

Full digest for 2023-08-05: https://trump.fm/date/2023-08-05/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2023, August 5). WOW, it’s finally happened! Liddle’ Mike Pence, a... [Social media post]. Truth Social. trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/ts_110839099117011681
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "WOW, it’s finally happened! Liddle’ Mike Pence, a man who..." Truth Social, 5 Aug. 2023. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_110839099117011681. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "WOW, it’s finally happened! Liddle’ Mike Pence, a man who...," Truth Social, August 5, 2023, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_110839099117011681.

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