# Post ts_110967780621020321 - Post ID: `ts_110967780621020321` - Platform: Truth Social - Posted: 2023-08-28T14:45:57.319Z (UTC) - Deleted: no - Repost: no - Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/ts_110967780621020321 - Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/ts_110967780621020321/analysis - Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/ts_110967780621020321.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording) ## Post text > Rumors are strong in political circles that Ron DeSanctimonious, whose Presidential run is a shambles, and whose poll numbers have absolutely crashed, putting him 3rd and 4th in some states, will be dropping out of the Presidential race in order to run, in Florida, against Rick Scott for Senate. Now that’s an interesting one, isn’t it? ## Engagement - Likes: 26,337 - Reposts: 7,024 - Replies: 2,093 - Views: unknown - Metrics collected: 2026-02-01T01:19:51.400Z (UTC) # Analysis _Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-03-20T07:56:54.191Z (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 hours after Trump's Tucker Carlson interview aired (timed to compete with the first GOP debate he skipped), this post exemplifies Trump's preferred mode of schadenfreude-as-political-communication. The psychological register is notably different from the same-day rage posts targeting Biden and the indictments: here Trump is expansive, playful, and triumphalist rather than wounded or paranoid. The "DeSanctimonious" nickname—a deliberate portmanteau attacking DeSantis's religiosity and dignity—functions as a status-sorting device that followers are invited to adopt, cementing Trump's control of the Republican semantic field. The post's clinical interest lies in its rumor-laundering structure: unverified political gossip is reframed as high-confidence insider intelligence ("Rumors are strong in political circles"), providing plausible deniability while maximizing reputational damage. The specific rumor—that DeSantis would abandon the presidential race to primary Rick Scott for Senate—is constructed for maximum humiliation value, reducing a rival to a desperate consolation-prize seeker. In the context of the August 28 posting cluster (at least five posts in a single day with rapid tonal oscillation across targets), mild hypomanic features are observed—elevated energy, grandiose affect, and rapid affective shifting between amused condescension and ALL-CAPS outrage. Authorship is assessed as highly authentic Trump, anchored by the proprietary nickname, conversational rhetorical questions, and gossipy intimacy with the audience. No danger indicators. Cognitive markers within normal Trump baseline. # Psychological Analysis: Truth Social Post — August 28, 2023 ## Overview This post targets Ron DeSantis through a rumor-laundering attack, spreading unverified speculation about his campaign's implosion and a potential Senate pivot. It sits within a dense same-day posting cluster (at least five posts on August 28) and must be read against that backdrop of elevated output and affective range. --- ## Authorship Attribution **Assessment: High-authentic Trump (0.82)** The authenticating anchor is "DeSanctimonious"—a proprietary portmanteau Trump coined and deploys consistently, functioning as a personal brand marker no aide would independently deploy. The gossipy register ("Rumors are strong in political circles") and the trailing rhetorical question ("Now that's an interesting one, isn't it?") are signature vernacular devices. The post reads as spontaneous mischief-making rather than staffed content. UTC 14:45 converts to approximately **10:45 AM EDT** (Trump likely at Bedminster, NJ in late August). Daytime posting is not disqualifying—Trump posts throughout daylight hours—and the informal, personal style is inconsistent with aide-authored content, which trends toward event announcements and polished grammar. --- ## Contextual Frame This post appeared in the immediate wake of Trump's Tucker Carlson interview (aired 9pm ET the prior evening to compete with the first GOP debate he skipped). The August 23–28 period was one of maximum legal/political simultaneity: mugshot booking at Fulton County Jail, Judge Chutkan's March 4 trial date, the Meadows hearing, and DeSantis's ongoing polling slide. Trump's output volume on August 28 reflects a psychologically activated state. --- ## Level 1: Dispositional Traits (Big Five) | Trait | Expression in Post | |---|---| | **Extraversion (high, ~0.88)** | Assertive, audience-performing, gossip-dropping as dominance | | **Agreeableness (low, ~0.12)** | Systematic devaluation, no collaborative register | | **Conscientiousness (low, ~0.22)** | Spreading unverified rumor without epistemic caution | | **Neuroticism (moderate-low, ~0.31)** | Notably calmer than same-day posts; gleeful rather than agitated | | **Openness (low, ~0.20)** | No ideational complexity; strategic rather than exploratory | **Dominant facet:** Assertiveness shading into dominance display. --- ## Level 2: Characteristic Adaptations **Dominant motive: Status/Power (agency: 0.85)** The post's psychological purpose is status maintenance through rival diminishment. DeSantis's polling decline is not simply reported—it is savored. Trump positions himself as so dominant that rivals must abandon their ambitions and scramble for lesser prizes. **Schema activation:** The self-as-invincible-sovereign schema is clearly operative. DeSantis exists narratively not as a political figure but as a prop that demonstrates Trump's supremacy by failing in his presence. **Communion motives: Near-absent (0.08)** — The post builds parasocial intimacy with the audience through insider gossip while expressing zero authentic relational warmth. --- ## Level 3: Narrative Identity - **Protagonist role:** Triumphant sovereign surveying a rival's collapse from an elevated position - **Narrative sequence:** Contamination applied *to DeSantis* — the challenger who rose, presumed to challenge the king, and is now reduced to wreckage - **Identity claims:** "I am so dominant rivals must abandon ambition"; "I have insider access to political intelligence others lack" - **Contrasting other:** DeSantis as the presumptuous challenger, now a figure of ridicule — "shambles," "absolutely crashed," potentially reduced to Senate consolation-prize seeking --- ## Level 4: Clinical Indicators ### Narcissistic Dynamics **State: Grandiose** — This post does not show the wounded, victimized register visible in the same-day indictment posts. Trump is in an expansive, triumphalist mode. **Trigger:** Competitive rival as ongoing foil. DeSantis's decline is a source of narcissistic supply — not because Trump fears him (polls showed Trump far ahead), but because the rival's humiliation validates Trump's singular dominance. **Ego-syntonic sadism (moderate, 0.45):** The pleasure in spreading a maximally humiliating rumor — that DeSantis must abandon the presidency to scramble for a Senate seat against an incumbent from his own state — exceeds simple political commentary. The specific *shape* of the hypothetical humiliation (the consolation prize narrative) has been chosen for maximum degradation value. ### Defense Mechanisms 1. **Devaluation (immature):** "DeSanctimonious," "shambles," "absolutely crashed" — systematic reduction of rival to a failure object. The nickname itself is a permanent devaluation label. 2. **Projection (immature):** Trump, days after his mugshot, is the one whose situation is objectively destabilized. DeSantis's difficulties are amplified and foregrounded to displace the audience's attention from Trump's own vulnerabilities. 3. **Rationalization (neurotic):** Framing unverified speculation as intelligence ("Rumors are strong in political circles") provides a post-hoc justification for spreading an attack in the form of a news report. ### Malignant Narcissism Profile - Narcissistic features: **0.72** - Antisocial features: **0.35** (rumor-spreading as information weapon) - Paranoid features: **0.15** (notably absent in this post) - Sadism: **0.45** --- ## Rhetorical Analysis **"DeSanctimonious"** — The rhetorical keystone. A portmanteau attacking religiosity (implying hypocrisy), dignity, and seriousness simultaneously. Memorable, repeatable by followers, and functions as a cognitive anchor that reframes DeSantis each time it appears. **Rumor laundering** — "Rumors are strong in political circles" is a classic tabloid-style information attack: Trump spreads a damaging claim while technically disclaiming certainty. The high-confidence epistemic framing ("strong") provides the reputational damage; the word "rumors" provides deniability. **Trailing rhetorical question** — "Now that's an interesting one, isn't it?" converts passive readers into active co-conspirators in DeSantis's humiliation. The audience is invited to participate in finding this amusing, deepening parasocial bond. **Comparative diminishment** — "3rd and 4th in some states" is calibrated to sound worse than it is; DeSantis was polling second nationally at this time. "Some states" allows cherry-picking of worst-case data points. --- ## Fact Verification | Claim | Verdict | Evidence | |-------|---------|----------| | "DeSantis poll numbers have absolutely crashed, putting him 3rd and 4th in some states" | **Half True** | DeSantis had experienced a significant polling decline from his post-2022 peak (where some polls showed him competitive with Trump), falling from ~30% in early 2023 to the mid-teens nationally by August 2023. He was generally polling second nationally at this time, not 3rd or 4th. 'Some states' framing allows for cherry-picking; in specific state surveys he may have occasionally placed lower, but 'absolutely crashed' overstates the velocity and 'putting him 3rd and 4th' is characteristically selective. | | "DeSantis will drop out to run against Rick Scott for Senate in Florida" | **Unverifiable** | Presented as a 'strong rumor' at time of posting. Rick Scott's Senate seat was indeed up in 2024, making a DeSantis primary challenge mathematically possible. DeSantis ultimately suspended his presidential campaign in January 2024 after Iowa, endorsing Trump, and did not run against Scott. The claim functions more as a maximally humiliating narrative than a credible forecast. | | "DeSantis's Presidential run is a shambles" | **Mostly True** | By August 2023, the DeSantis campaign had undergone significant internal turbulence, including staff reductions and strategic pivots. His poll numbers had declined substantially from spring 2023 peaks. 'Shambles' is characteristically hyperbolic but directionally consistent with contemporaneous reporting. | Overall Veracity: 60% ## Cognitive Status No markers of concern in this post. Syntax is simple but coherent. No word-finding difficulties, paraphasia, temporal confusion, or perseveration. Vocabulary and complexity are consistent with Trump's established baseline. The relative simplicity of construction is a style choice, not a capacity signal. **Baseline deviation: None.** --- ## Hypomanic Indicators While this individual post is not hypomanic, the August 28 **posting cluster as a whole** warrants notation: - At minimum five posts across disparate targets (DeSantis polling, DeSantis Christie comparison, Biden/indictment rage, Truth Social self-promotion, impeachment clarification) - Rapid tonal oscillation within a single day: from gleeful, amused condescension (this post) to ALL-CAPS outrage ("LUNATIC FASCHISTS & MARXISTS") - Elevated energetic output concurrent with maximum legal pressure (post-mugshot, trial date set) **Assessment: Mild hypomanic indicators at the cluster level.** --- ## Danger Assessment **Level: None** No eliminationist language, dehumanizing rhetoric, violent imagery, or stochastic terrorism indicators. This is political taunting within the normal range of adversarial political discourse. --- ## Archetypal Analysis **Primary archetypes activated:** - **Trickster:** The gossip-dropping, rule-breaking quality of spreading an unverified but maximally damaging rumor as if casually sharing known information. The Trickster disrupts rivals not through direct confrontation but through mischief. - **King:** The amused detachment of a sovereign watching a lesser figure's ambitions collapse. The rhetorical question ("Now that's an interesting one, isn't it?") is a king's aside to courtiers, not a fighter's taunt. **Shadow projection:** DeSantis is cast as the ambitious pretender who overreached — a narrative that partially projects Trump's own pattern of escalating ambition and overreach onto a rival. --- ## Summary Posted hours after Trump's Tucker Carlson interview (timed to compete with the first GOP debate Trump skipped), this post exemplifies the schadenfreude-as-political-communication mode. The psychological register is distinctly different from the same-day rage posts targeting Biden and the indictments: here Trump is expansive, playful, and triumphalist. The "DeSanctimonious" nickname functions as a status-sorting device followers are invited to adopt, cementing Trump's control of the Republican semantic field. The post's clinical interest lies in its rumor-laundering structure — unverified gossip is repackaged as high-confidence insider intelligence, providing deniability while maximizing reputational damage. The specific rumor's shape (DeSantis reduced to a Senate consolation-prize seeker) reveals ego-syntonic sadism: the hypothetical is constructed for maximum humiliation value. In the context of the August 28 posting cluster (five-plus posts with rapid tonal oscillation), mild hypomanic features are noted at the cluster level. Authorship is assessed as highly authentic. No danger indicators. Cognitive markers within baseline. ## Authorship Analysis **Self-Written** (score: 82%) ### Indicators - 'DeSanctimonious' nickname is an original Trump coinage used consistently across posts - Gossipy, conspiratorial 'Rumors are strong in political circles' framing is authentic Trump rhetorical register - Rhetorical question ending ('Now that's an interesting one, isn't it?') is a signature Trump vernacular device - Casual, stream-of-consciousness clause stacking without formal connectives - UTC 14:45 = ~10:45 AM EDT (Trump likely at Bedminster, NJ in late August) - daytime hour slightly reduces confidence but Trump posts throughout daylight hours ## Psychological Profile ### State **Grandiose State** **Trigger:** Supply Seeking — Comparison (DeSantis as ongoing competitive foil) Sentiment: -0.35 **Mildly Hypomanic** - Posting cadence on 2023-08-28 is high — at least five posts in rapid succession covering disparate targets (DeSantis, Biden, Truth Social self-promotion, impeachment, indictments) - Tonal shifts within the same day from triumphalist amusement (this post) to ALL-CAPS outrage (indictment posts) suggest rapid affective oscillation - Elevated energy and expansive self-referential quality across the posting cluster ### Clinical **Malignant Narcissism:** - Narcissistic: 72% - Antisocial: 35% - Paranoid: 15% - Sadism: 45% **Defense Mechanisms:** - devaluation (immature) - projection (immature) - rationalization (neurotic) **Cognitive Complexity:** - Complexity: 42% **Parasocial Techniques:** - Inviting the audience into insider gossip ('Rumors are strong in political circles') creates false intimacy - Rhetorical question ('Now that's an interesting one, isn't it?') solicits co-conspirator agreement from followers - Schadenfreude loop: audience is rewarded with the pleasure of watching a rival fail ## Fact Checks (3) _The model's verdicts from 2026-03-20._ > DeSantis poll numbers have absolutely crashed, putting him 3rd and 4th in some states **HALF TRUE** DeSantis had experienced a significant polling decline from his post-2022 peak (where some polls showed him competitive with Trump), falling from ~30% in early 2023 to the mid-teens nationally by August 2023. He was generally polling second nationally at this time, not 3rd or 4th. 'Some states' framing allows for cherry-picking; in specific state surveys he may have occasionally placed lower, but 'absolutely crashed' overstates the velocity and 'putting him 3rd and 4th' is characteristically selective. Sources: RealClearPolitics 2023 GOP primary polling aggregates; FiveThirtyEight GOP primary polling August 2023 > DeSantis will drop out to run against Rick Scott for Senate in Florida **UNVERIFIABLE** Presented as a 'strong rumor' at time of posting. Rick Scott's Senate seat was indeed up in 2024, making a DeSantis primary challenge mathematically possible. DeSantis ultimately suspended his presidential campaign in January 2024 after Iowa, endorsing Trump, and did not run against Scott. The claim functions more as a maximally humiliating narrative than a credible forecast. > DeSantis's Presidential run is a shambles **MOSTLY TRUE** By August 2023, the DeSantis campaign had undergone significant internal turbulence, including staff reductions and strategic pivots. His poll numbers had declined substantially from spring 2023 peaks. 'Shambles' is characteristically hyperbolic but directionally consistent with contemporaneous reporting. Overall Veracity: 60% ## Tags - DeSantis rivalry (95%) - derogatory nickname (90%) - rumor laundering (80%) - schadenfreude (85%) - grandiosity (75%) - political gossip (80%) - status dominance (85%) - authentic trump (82%) ## That day _From trump.fm's machine-generated digest of the day, not his words._ **Four Days After the Mugshot: Legal Rage and Grandiose Spectacle Oscillate Through a Day of Narcissistic Siege** Trump spent the day ricocheting between furious attacks on prosecutors and playful mockery of Republican rivals, all under the shadow of his Fulton County booking four days earlier. The morning opened with accusations that Biden personally orchestrated the indictments, escalated through an all-caps rant about "lunatic fascists," and peaked in the afternoon when a judge set an aggressive trial date. Between rage bursts, he declared Truth Social the greatest platform on Earth and floated gleeful rumors about DeSantis dropping out. The day closed with an attempt to recast the entire legal ordeal as a "Summer Blockbuster" movie — converting humiliation into entertainment. Full digest for 2023-08-28: https://trump.fm/date/2023-08-28/analysis ## Citation - APA: Trump, D. J. (2023, August 28). Rumors are strong in political circles that Ron... [Social media post]. Truth Social. trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/ts_110967780621020321 - MLA: Trump, Donald J. "Rumors are strong in political circles that Ron..." Truth Social, 28 Aug. 2023. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_110967780621020321. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026. - Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "Rumors are strong in political circles that Ron...," Truth Social, August 28, 2023, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_110967780621020321. ## 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_110967780621020321 - Analysis as JSON: https://trump.fm/api/analysis/ts_110967780621020321 - All citation formats: https://trump.fm/api/cite/ts_110967780621020321 - Same day: https://trump.fm/date/2023-08-28 - The record alone, without the analysis: https://trump.fm/post/ts_110967780621020321.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`._