Analysis: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/12/why_did_the_med...

2y ago Dec 8, 2023 at 4:26 PM

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/12/why_did_the_media_cover_the_congenital_liar_cohen_but_not_the_expert_witnesses_for_trumps_banking.html

AI Analysis

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

Danger Level

None

Narcissistic State

Vulnerable

Authorship

Aide-Written

Intensity

35%

Authorship Analysis

Aide-Written

Indicators:

Post time 16:26 UTC = 11:26 AM EST (Trump in New York for civil fraud trial, standard business hours)
Zero original text — entire post is a single URL with no commentary, typos, or reactive language
Curation-style link amplification consistent with Scavino/aide social media management pattern
No ALL CAPS, no emotional punctuation, no stream-of-consciousness signature markers

Psychological Profile

▶ State

Vulnerable State

Trigger: Narcissistic Injury — Exposure (NY civil fraud trial proceedings)

Sentiment

-0.55

▶ Clinical

Malignant Narcissism:

Narcissistic

50%

Antisocial

20%

Paranoid

60%

Sadism

20%

Defense Mechanisms:

projectionsplittingrationalization

Cognitive Complexity:

Complexity

Parasocial Techniques:

Outsources attack language to article title, maintaining plausible deniability while still amplifying the 'congenital liar' characterizationFrames supporters as victims of media manipulation alongside Trump

Danger Assessment

None

Gaslighting Detected:

Implicit attack on institutional perception: framing media coverage choices as evidence of systemic corruption rather than standard news value judgments
Delegitimizing prosecution witness post-liability finding (Engoron already found Trump liable September 2023) — retroactively attacking the evidentiary basis for a ruling already made

Reality Distortions:

Implies Cohen's credibility problems are sufficient to explain or undermine the fraud case, ignoring documentary evidence, financial records, and expert testimony forming the case's foundation
Frames trial outcome as media-determined rather than evidence-determined

Fact Checks (3)

"Michael Cohen is a 'congenital liar'"

Half True

Cohen was convicted in 2018 of lying to Congress, tax evasion, and bank fraud — documented instances of dishonesty are established. However, 'congenital' implies biological, innate, incurable lying as a diagnosis, which is rhetorical hyperbole, not a factual claim.

"Media covered Cohen but not Trump's expert witnesses during the banking fraud trial"

Mostly True

Cohen's prior convictions and history with Trump made him inherently more newsworthy by standard editorial criteria. Defense expert witnesses in civil fraud proceedings typically receive substantially less coverage. The asymmetry is real, though the implied explanation (media bias vs. news value) is contested.

"Trump had expert witnesses testify favorably in his banking fraud case"

True

Confirmed by known events: Trump's defense presented expert witness testimony on December 7, 2023, the day before this post.

Receipts

No contradictions with other posts detected yet.

Analysis: Trump Truth Social Post — 2023-12-08T16:26 UTC

Context

Trump was in New York on December 8, 2023, attending his civil fraud trial in which the defense had just presented expert witness testimony on December 7. The post is a bare URL to an American Thinker opinion piece whose title reads: "Why Did the Media Cover the Congenital Liar Cohen But Not the Expert Witnesses for Trump's Banking [case]."

Level 1: Dispositional Traits

Limited signal from a URL-only post, but the selection behavior is informative:

Low Agreeableness: Content selection reveals adversarial orientation; zero conciliatory framing
Elevated Neuroticism (hostile facet): Chose an article leading with an attack label ("congenital liar") during a period of acute legal threat
Low Conscientiousness (deliberation): The near-zero effort of the post itself (no original text) contrasts with a substantive legal proceeding — reactive rather than strategic

Level 2: Characteristic Adaptations

Agency motives dominate: Control of the legal narrative is threatened; this post attempts to re-establish control by undermining Cohen's credibility and framing the proceedings as a media-corrupted spectacle.

Power schema: The world is divided into those who attack (media, Cohen, AG James) and those unjustly targeted (Trump, his experts). Fairness is structurally impossible in this worldview — reinforcing the schema that the system is rigged.

Level 3: Narrative Identity

Protagonist role: Martyr/victim of coordinated institutional attack
Contamination sequence: Trial that should vindicate is instead corrupted by media choosing to amplify a liar (Cohen) over credible experts
Contrasting other: Cohen serves as the contaminated villain — not merely wrong but constitutionally ("congenitally") dishonest
Identity claim (implicit): I am the target of liars and a media that protects them

Level 4: Clinical Indicators

Narcissistic Dynamics

The vulnerable narcissistic state is operative. Rather than grandiose proclamations, this post performs defensive delegitimization — characteristic of narcissistic injury response when direct counterattack is legally constrained. The trial forces a passivity that conflicts with the dominant agency motive; proxy amplification is the permitted outlet.

Defense Mechanisms

Projection is the central mechanism: "congenital liar" directed at Cohen while Trump faces a civil fraud verdict already rendered (Judge Engoron found Trump liable for persistent fraud in September 2023 — before this post). The character of the attack mirrors the nature of the exposure, a textbook projective dynamic.

Splitting structures the article title: Cohen = irredeemable liar; Trump's experts = credible, wrongfully ignored. The complexity of competing testimony is collapsed into a moral binary.

Authorship Attribution

Likely aide-written (confidence: high). Post time = 11:26 AM EST (business hours). Zero original text. Pure curation. No typos, emotional punctuation, or reactive commentary. Consistent with Scavino social media management pattern during legal proceedings when Trump's own posting is monitored for contempt exposure.

Fact Verification

Claim	Verdict	Evidence
"Michael Cohen is a 'congenital liar'"	Half True	Cohen was convicted in 2018 of lying to Congress, tax evasion, and bank fraud — documented instances of dishonesty are established. However, 'congenital' implies biological, innate, incurable lying as a diagnosis, which is rhetorical hyperbole, not a factual claim.
"Media covered Cohen but not Trump's expert witnesses during the banking fraud trial"	Mostly True	Cohen's prior convictions and history with Trump made him inherently more newsworthy by standard editorial criteria. Defense expert witnesses in civil fraud proceedings typically receive substantially less coverage. The asymmetry is real, though the implied explanation (media bias vs. news value) is contested.
"Trump had expert witnesses testify favorably in his banking fraud case"	True	Confirmed by known events: Trump's defense presented expert witness testimony on December 7, 2023, the day before this post.

Overall Veracity: 77%

Order/Chaos Dynamics

Order-attacker posture: The post frames the existing media/legal order as corrupt and biased, positioning Trump as subject to an illegitimate process. The implicit promise is that a different order (Trump restored to power) would correct this asymmetry.

Danger Assessment

None elevated. Standard legal defense narrative amplification. No dehumanization, no mobilization language, no stochastic terrorism indicators.