# Post ts_111600147811906082

- Post ID: `ts_111600147811906082`
- Platform: Truth Social
- Posted: 2023-12-18T07:05:14.800Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/ts_111600147811906082
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/ts_111600147811906082/analysis
- Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/ts_111600147811906082.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording)

## Post text

> Stephen A. Smith to Ron DeSanctimonious: “First of all sir, don’t you have bigger priorities? I mean you’re trailing Donald Trump by about 59 points in the polls…The man ain’t even show up to debate you because he considers you that insignificant, don’t you have bigger problems? Don’t you have bigger problems??”

## What the media says

**Video transcript** (1:19), transcribed automatically, so names and numbers may be wrong. Speakers aren't identified, so a voice in it may not be his:

> It's about Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, but it's not about politics, it's about sports because he's talking about setting aside a million dollars in the state budget for any potential litigation coming down the pike to sue the NCAA or to sue somebody because of the college football playoff selection committee, they may, will you stop? First of all, sir, don't you have bigger priorities? I mean, you're down, you're trailing Donald Trump by about 59 points in the polls. The man ain't even show up to debate you because he considers you that insignificant. Don't you have bigger problems? Don't you have bigger problems? And here's why we don't bring up this subject. It's about Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, but it's not about politics, it's about sports because he's talking about setting aside a million dollars in the state budget for any potential litigation coming down the pike to sue the NCAA or to sue somebody because of the college football playoff selection committee, they may, will you stop? First of all, sir, don't you have bigger priorities? I mean, you're down, you're trailing Donald Trump by about 59 points in the polls. The man ain't even show up to debate you because he considers you that insignificant. you have bigger problems don't you have bigger problem

## Media

- video: https://static-assets-1.truthsocial.com/tmtg:prime-ts-assets/media_attachments/files/111/600/147/717/837/138/original/014ce72f1f152a2f.mp4

## Engagement

- Likes: 11,239
- Reposts: 3,022
- Replies: 464
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-02-01T01:19:51.387Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-03-20T14:49:21.049Z (UTC): a model's reading of this post, not his words. Its psychological terms describe the language, not a clinical assessment of him._

## Summary

This post exemplifies proxy devaluation at peak rival vulnerability. By amplifying Stephen A. Smith's public shaming of DeSantis — days after the DeSantis campaign lost its chief strategist — Trump achieves dominance assertion without direct speech, using an unexpected Black media voice as rhetorical amplifier. The 2 AM EST timing and embedded "DeSanctimonious" nickname confirm authentic Trump involvement. Narcissistic state is robustly grandiose: no rage, no injury, only the relaxed pleasure of watching a rival collapse from a polling altitude so commanding that debate attendance would dignify a challenger unworthy of acknowledgment. The reframing of Trump's debate absence as contemptuous superiority rather than standard frontrunner strategy is a clean rationalization — converting defensive calculation into dominance display. Concurrent legal jeopardy (civil fraud trial active, Giuliani $148M damages verdict same week) is entirely absent from the post, illustrating characteristic compartmentalization: legal domain processed with persecution framing, competitive political domain processed with triumphalism. No danger indicators present; the "insignificance" framing of DeSantis actually de-escalates threat rhetoric. Clinically, the ego-syntonic pleasure in public humiliation of a rival — not merely beating him but watching him be mocked — is consistent with the sadistic facet of malignant narcissism as described by Kernberg.

# Analysis: ts_111600147811906082 — December 18, 2023

## Overview

This post is a curated video clip of sports media personality Stephen A. Smith berating Ron DeSantis on air. Trump contributes no original text — the vehicle for the attack is entirely another person's voice. Yet the selection is unmistakably purposeful: Smith's monologue articulates the exact dominance narrative Trump wants amplified, and the derogatory nickname "DeSanctimonious" — Trump's own coinage — appears embedded in the attributed quote, signaling either Trump's personal framing of the clip's label or a tightly coordinated aide action. The post arrives at the precise moment DeSantis's campaign is structurally collapsing (chief strategist Jeff Roe resigned two days prior, December 16).

---

## Authorship Attribution

**Local time assessment:** UTC 07:05 converts to 02:05 AM EST (Trump's likely location: Mar-a-Lago or traveling from New Hampshire rally referenced in same-day posts). A 2 AM post is firmly within Trump's documented late-night posting window — a strong authenticity marker.

**Content indicators:** The nickname "DeSanctimonious" is Trump's own registered verbal property. Its appearance as part of how the clip is labeled or introduced signals Trump's personal involvement in selection and framing, even if an aide physically posted. The absence of any original text is consistent with Trump sharing content he finds viscerally satisfying without elaborating — a pattern seen in his repost/RT behavior when the content "speaks for itself" from his perspective.

**Verdict:** High confidence authentic Trump selection; moderate confidence Trump posted it personally vs. directed an aide at that hour.

---

## Psychological State and Triggers

**Trigger:** Supply-seeking combined with rival devaluation. DeSantis is in structural free-fall — his campaign's chief strategist just resigned, polls show a 50+ point deficit — making this an opportunistic dominance display rather than a reactive injury response. There is no visible narcissistic wound here; the post radiates grandiose, expansive confidence.

**Narcissistic state:** Grandiose. Trump is not defending himself; he is luxuriating in a rival's public humiliation, mediated through a third-party voice. This is the "winner watching from above" posture, not the wounded paranoid posture seen in posts responding to legal threats (e.g., the civil fraud trial also underway this week).

**Narcissistic rage:** Absent. This is its inverse — pleasure, not fury. The absence of rage is itself diagnostic: Trump reserves rage for targets who threaten him. DeSantis, at this polling differential, no longer registers as a threat. The post functions as a victory lap, not a counterattack.

**Motive profile:** Dominant motive is power/status maintenance through public demonstration of hierarchy. DeSantis must be seen to be beneath Trump, not merely behind in polls, but *insignificant* — a qualitatively different claim. Smith's quote does the psychological work of rendering DeSantis not just losing but unworthy of engagement.

---

## Defense Mechanisms

**Proxy devaluation (immature/devaluation):** The central mechanism. Trump achieves the devaluation of a rival without the social cost of appearing to punch down. By amplifying a third party's words, he maintains plausible stylistic distance ("I'm just sharing what others are saying") while receiving the full narcissistic supply of the attack. This is structurally identical to Trump retweeting flattering accounts — the curation *is* the statement.

**Rationalization:** The reframing of Trump's debate absence as contemptuous superiority rather than strategic frontrunner protection is a clean rationalization. The reality — that frontrunners routinely skip debates to avoid elevating challengers and risking gaffes — is converted into a dominance narrative: "he considers you that insignificant." Trump's selection of this clip endorses and amplifies that reframe.

**Splitting (immature):** Implicit but present. Trump = dominant, inevitable, too important to acknowledge. DeSantis = insignificant, trailing, abandoned even by his own team.

---

## Rhetorical Techniques

**Ventriloquism / proxy attack:** Using Smith's voice achieves several simultaneous rhetorical effects: (1) devaluation with deniability; (2) appearance of cross-demographic consensus (Smith is a prominent Black sports media personality, lending a "beyond Trump's base" quality to the contempt); (3) entertainment value that aids virality.

**Social proof via unexpected source:** Smith's perceived independence from MAGA politics makes his criticism of DeSantis more rhetorically potent than any Trump surrogate could produce. The implicit message: "Even people outside my coalition see DeSantis as a joke."

**Superlative polling claim:** "59 points" functions as a hyperbolic intensifier. Actual polling gaps at this time were substantial (roughly 40-55 points depending on the poll), so the number is approximately in range but likely drawn from a favorable outlier. Regardless, the psychological function is magnitude assertion — the gap must feel overwhelming, not merely large.

**Rhetorical question as humiliation:** Smith's repeated "don't you have bigger problems?" is the rhetorical structure of public shaming — the question that presupposes its own devastating answer. By amplifying it, Trump endorses its framing.

---

## Narrative Identity

**Protagonist role:** The absent king. Trump does not appear directly — and that *is* the point. The narrative positions him as so dominant he need not show up. He is the gravitational center around whom others orbit, referenced but not present. This is a specifically elevated form of the "winner" archetype: the winner who is too far ahead to acknowledge competition.

**Contrasting other:** DeSantis as structural loser — not merely behind but unworthy of acknowledgment. The contamination narrative for DeSantis is implied: he entered the race with momentum and hype, and has been progressively humiliated to the point that even media figures outside conservative politics mock his position.

**Redemption/contamination:** Neither applies to Trump here — he has no arc to resolve. The narrative is purely positional: Trump at apex, DeSantis at nadir.

---

## Cognitive Status

No direct Trump speech is present in this post, which precludes meaningful cognitive analysis of his language production. The post's coherence and purposefulness are intact — the selection is strategically logical and contextually well-timed. No markers of confusion or temporal disorientation evident in the curation behavior.

---

## Contextual Note: Concurrent Events

The post lands against a backdrop of significant legal pressure (civil fraud trial active in Manhattan, Giuliani $148M damages verdict in same week), yet none of that anxiety is visible here. This dissociation — triumphant competitor content running parallel to serious legal jeopardy — is a recurring pattern consistent with grandiose narcissistic compartmentalization. The polls-vs-courts split in Trump's posting during this period is psychologically notable: the legal realm is managed with persecution framing; the competitive political realm is managed with dominance framing.

---

## Danger Assessment

**Level: None.** This is competitor devaluation content with no violence indicators, no eliminationist language, no target escalation. The "insignificance" frame actually de-escalates threat framing of DeSantis — the opposite of stochastic priming.

---

## Summary

This post exemplifies proxy devaluation at a moment of maximum rival vulnerability. By amplifying Stephen A. Smith's public humiliation of DeSantis — days after DeSantis's campaign lost its chief strategist — Trump achieves dominance assertion without direct speech, using an unexpected Black media voice as rhetorical amplifier. The 2 AM local timing is consistent with authentic Trump posting. The embedded "DeSanctimonious" nickname confirms Trump's personal involvement in framing. Narcissistic state is robustly grandiose: no rage, no injury, only the relaxed pleasure of watching a rival collapse from polling altitude so comfortable that debate attendance would be a gift the challenger doesn't merit. The reframing of Trump's debate absence as contemptuous superiority rather than frontrunner strategy is a textbook rationalization. Concurrent legal jeopardy (civil fraud trial, Giuliani verdict week) is entirely absent from this post, illustrating characteristic compartmentalization. No danger indicators present.

## Fact Verification

| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|-------|---------|----------|
| "DeSantis trailing Trump by about 59 points in polls" | **Mostly True** | December 2023 national Republican primary polls showed Trump at approximately 60-65% and DeSantis at 10-15%, yielding gaps of roughly 45-55 points. The '59 points' figure is within the range of specific polls but likely cherry-picked from a favorable outlier. The magnitude of the gap is directionally accurate. |
| "Trump did not show up to debate DeSantis" | **True** | Trump skipped all Republican primary debates in the 2024 cycle, including those in which DeSantis participated. His campaign explicitly declined to participate on grounds he was the frontrunner. |

Overall Veracity: 90%

## Authorship Analysis

**Self-Written** (score: 75%)

### Indicators

- 2:05 AM EST posting time — within Trump's documented late-night activity window
- Trademark 'DeSanctimonious' nickname embedded in clip framing — Trump's own coinage
- No original text — consistent with Trump sharing viscerally satisfying content without elaboration
- Curation timing exploits DeSantis campaign collapse (Roe resignation Dec 16) with opportunistic precision

## Psychological Profile

### State

**Grandiose State**

**Trigger:** Supply Seeking (DeSantis campaign collapse)

Sentiment: +0.35

### Clinical

**Malignant Narcissism:**
- Narcissistic: 75%
- Antisocial: 25%
- Paranoid: 5%
- Sadism: 45%

**Defense Mechanisms:**
- devaluation (immature)
- rationalization (neurotic)
- splitting (immature)

**Cognitive Complexity:**
- Complexity: 30%

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- Amplification of cross-demographic contempt (Smith as unexpected validator)
- Vicarious humiliation — inviting followers to enjoy rival's public shaming
- Positional dominance display: 'I am so far ahead I need not acknowledge competition'

## Danger Assessment

**NONE**

### Gaslighting

- Debate absence reframed as contemptuous dismissal rather than frontrunner strategic calculation — converts defensive behavior into dominance narrative
- 59-point lead claim likely drawn from a favorable polling outlier, presented as established fact

## Fact Checks (2)

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

> DeSantis trailing Trump by about 59 points in polls

**MOSTLY TRUE**

December 2023 national Republican primary polls showed Trump at approximately 60-65% and DeSantis at 10-15%, yielding gaps of roughly 45-55 points. The '59 points' figure is within the range of specific polls but likely cherry-picked from a favorable outlier. The magnitude of the gap is directionally accurate.

Sources: December 2023 RealClearPolitics Republican primary polling averages

> Trump did not show up to debate DeSantis

**TRUE**

Trump skipped all Republican primary debates in the 2024 cycle, including those in which DeSantis participated. His campaign explicitly declined to participate on grounds he was the frontrunner.

Sources: Republican primary debate records, 2023

Overall Veracity: 90%

## Tags

- proxy_devaluation (95%)
- grandiose_narcissism (85%)
- rival_humiliation (90%)
- ventriloquism_rhetoric (85%)
- late_night_authentic (80%)
- desantis_devaluation (95%)
- legal_compartmentalization (70%)
- debate_absence_rationalization (80%)

## That day

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

**Post-Rally Grandiosity Crumbles Into Courtroom Rage as Fraud Trial Motion Denied**

Trump rode the high of a Reno rally and a rowdy UFC appearance for most of the day, flooding his feed with crowd-size boasts, campaign promises, and flattering news links. The mood was triumphant and self-congratulatory, with sweeping pledges to prevent World War III and end child trafficking. But the day took a sharp turn in the late afternoon when a judge denied his motion to dismiss the New York civil fraud case, triggering a burst of angry posts attacking the judge and attorney general by name. The contrast between the morning's victory lap and the evening's courtroom fury defined the day.

Full digest for 2023-12-18: https://trump.fm/date/2023-12-18/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2023, December 18). Stephen A. Smith to Ron DeSanctimonious: “First... [Social media post]. Truth Social. trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/ts_111600147811906082
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "Stephen A. Smith to Ron DeSanctimonious: “First of all sir,..." Truth Social, 18 Dec. 2023. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_111600147811906082. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "Stephen A. Smith to Ron DeSanctimonious: “First of all sir,...," Truth Social, December 18, 2023, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_111600147811906082.

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