AI Analysis
Machine-generated analysis of the post above on 2026-03-20. Not written by the author of the post.
- Missing apostrophe in 'Lets' — documented recurring Trump typo
- Tense error 'They become' instead of 'They became' — consistent with Trump's informal register
- 'DeSanctimonious' is Trump's personally coined nickname, rarely reproduced by aides
- Ellipsis-to-pivot structure matches authentic Trump stream-of-consciousness pattern
- Triple exclamation marks consistent with authentic Trump enthusiasm markers
Trigger: Preemptive Attack — Comparison (Ron DeSantis (political rival))
The CFP Selection Committee on December 3, 2023 chose Alabama (12-1) over Florida State (13-0) for the final playoff spot, a historically unprecedented exclusion of an undefeated Power Five champion.
FSU was the first undefeated Power Five conference champion excluded in the CFP era (since 2014). The framing as simply 'first Power Five team left out' elides the 'undefeated champion' qualifier that makes it historically significant.
DeSantis made public statements supporting FSU's inclusion but governors have no formal mechanism to influence the selection committee. Whether any informal advocacy occurred or was 'bad' is not documented.
No contradictions with other posts detected yet.
Trump's day began just before 1 AM with an unusually revealing late-night post defending himself against Liz Cheney's book claim that he was "depressed and not eating" after the 2020 election — accidentally admitting to stress-eating in the process. The morning brought a sharp turn toward aggression...
Post Analysis: Trump Truth Social — 2023-12-04T14:36:39Z
Overview
A brief, sardonic post exploiting a legitimate sports controversy (Florida State's exclusion from the College Football Playoff) as a vehicle to mock political rival Ron DeSantis ("DeSanctimonious"). Compared to same-day posts attacking Robert De Niro as an "animal" and calling Biden's America a "Banana Republic," this post is notably restrained in affect — functioning as opportunistic trolling rather than narcissistic rage.
Authorship Attribution
UTC 14:36 → EST 9:36 AM at Mar-a-Lago or New York (both in EST in December). This falls squarely within business hours, which weakly suggests aide-assisted composition. However, several stylometric markers point toward authentic Trump authorship:
- Missing apostrophe: "Lets blame" (should be "Let's") — a recurring, documented Trump typo pattern
- Tense error: "They become the first Power Five team" (should be "became") — reflects Trump's habitual present/past conflation in informal writing
- "DeSanctimonious": Trump's personally coined, consistently deployed nickname for DeSantis, rarely reproduced by aides
- Ellipsis to pivot: The
…transition is a structural tic in Trump's authentic stream-of-consciousness posts - Three exclamation marks: Consistent with authentic enthusiasm markers
Verdict: Likely authentic, with moderate-high confidence, despite the business-hours timestamp. The typos and nickname usage are strong authenticity signals.
Contextual Background
The College Football Playoff Selection Committee on December 3, 2023 chose Alabama (12-1) over Florida State (13-0, ACC Champions) for the final playoff spot, citing FSU starting QB Jordan Travis's season-ending injury. The decision was widely criticized as unprecedented — a major conference champion excluded despite an undefeated record. DeSantis, as Florida's Governor, made public statements defending FSU but had no formal influence over the committee. Trump's "bad lobbying effort" framing is a characterization, not a factual claim about a formal lobbying process.
Level 1: Dispositional Traits (Big Five)
- Extraversion (high): Assertive, attention-commanding, performative sarcasm
- Agreeableness (very low): Dismissive of rival, zero solidarity with DeSantis despite both being Florida-aligned figures
- Conscientiousness (low): Impulsive exploitation of news cycle, no deliberation apparent
- Neuroticism (moderate-low): Relatively even-keeled compared to same-day posts; irritability present but subdued
- Openness (low): Rigid political lens applied to sports event; no genuine engagement with the football controversy itself
Dominant facet: assertiveness/dominance — the post is less about FSU and entirely about scoring points on DeSantis.
Level 2: Characteristic Adaptations
Agency motives dominate. The post is functionally a status assertion — Trump positions himself as the clear-eyed observer who correctly identifies where blame lies, implicitly demonstrating superior political acumen over his rival.
Schema revealed: DeSantis is framed as incompetent (can't even protect his home state's football team), while Trump implicitly offers the contrast of a figure who would have protected Florida's interests. This is consistent with Trump's persistent schema that effectiveness is synonymous with personal loyalty and dominance, not institutional processes.
Communion motives: absent. No solidarity with FSU players, fans, or Florida residents is expressed; the controversy is purely instrumental.
Level 3: Narrative Identity
- Protagonist role: The knowing Trickster/Jester — not fighting here, but mocking from a position of perceived superiority
- Narrative sequence: Contamination (FSU's perfect season → ruined by committee + DeSantis's impotence)
- Identity claim: Implicit — "I am more effective than DeSantis at everything, including protecting Florida"
- Contrasting other: DeSantis ("DeSanctimonious") as weak, ineffectual, and ultimately responsible for the perceived injustice
The post enacts what might be called parasitic opportunism in the narrative identity framework: Trump attaches his own political narrative (domination over DeSantis) to an external grievance (FSU's exclusion) without doing the work of actually engaging with the substance.
Level 4: Clinical Indicators
Narcissistic dynamic — Trigger: This is primarily preemptive attack / maintenance mode. No acute narcissistic injury is apparent; rather, Trump spots an opportunity to diminish a rival and deploys it. The affect is relatively light — schadenfreude more than rage.
Narcissistic state: Grandiose — Trump as clever, superior observer who "sees through" the situation to its real cause (DeSantis's failures), while others miss it.
Defense mechanisms:
- Displacement (neurotic): Genuine sports outrage is redirected from the CFP Committee onto DeSantis — the "real" target
- Rationalization (neurotic): "Really bad lobbying effort" provides a pseudo-logical frame that happens to implicate DeSantis
Malignant narcissism sub-components visible here:
- Narcissistic: mild grandiosity, entitlement to render judgment
- Antisocial: low in this post
- Paranoid: minimal — the "Committee" framing is slightly conspiratorial but grounded in real controversy
- Sadism: mild — the gleeful "Lets blame DeSanctimonious!!!" has an edge of delight at a rival's bad day
Cognitive Status Markers
- Tense error ("They become" for "They became"): minor, consistent with baseline
- Missing apostrophe ("Lets"): minor, consistent with baseline
- Syntactic complexity: low but coherent — a simple two-sentence structure with a sardonic punchline
- Perseveration: none
- Tangentiality: minimal — the pivot from FSU to DeSantis is abrupt but follows an internal logic
Baseline comparison: No marked deviation from established Trump post patterns. This is within normal range for his informal social media register.
Rhetorical & Propaganda Techniques
- Ad hominem: "DeSanctimonious" — the entire rhetorical architecture depends on the reader already accepting the derogatory framing of DeSantis
- Sarcasm/irony: "Lets blame DeSanctimonious!!!" performs mock-reluctance to assign blame while explicitly assigning it
- False causality: Implies DeSantis's "lobbying" was the deciding factor in a complex institutional decision with no established causal link
- Parasocial engagement: Invites the audience to share in the joke at DeSantis's expense — builds in-group via shared mockery
- False authority: Trump positions himself as knowing what constituted "really bad lobbying" — no basis for this claim is offered
No violent imagery. No dehumanizing language (notably different from same-day De Niro post where Trump called De Niro an "animal"). Stochastic terrorism: absent.
Gaslighting & Reality Distortion
Minimal. The underlying grievance (FSU's exclusion) is legitimate and widely shared. Trump's distortion is primarily the false causal chain linking DeSantis's "lobbying" to the outcome — not a denial of reality but a fabrication of an explanatory mechanism that happens to benefit his political interests.
Fact Verification
| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| "Florida State was left out of the College Football Playoffs" | True | The CFP Selection Committee on December 3, 2023 chose Alabama (12-1) over Florida State (13-0) for the final playoff spot, a historically unprecedented exclusion of an undefeated Power Five champion. |
| "They become the first Power Five team to be left out of the College Football Playoffs" | Mostly True | FSU was the first undefeated Power Five conference champion excluded in the CFP era (since 2014). The framing as simply 'first Power Five team left out' elides the 'undefeated champion' qualifier that makes it historically significant. |
| "Really bad lobbying effort" | Unverifiable | DeSantis made public statements supporting FSU's inclusion but governors have no formal mechanism to influence the selection committee. Whether any informal advocacy occurred or was 'bad' is not documented. |
Overall Veracity: 77%
Post from Truth Social
Florida State was treated very badly by the “Committee.” They become the first Power Five team to be left out of the College Football Playoffs. Really bad lobbying effort…Lets blame DeSanctimonious!!!