# Post ts_112324666380272121

- Post ID: `ts_112324666380272121`
- Platform: Truth Social
- Posted: 2024-04-24T05:59:50.893Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/ts_112324666380272121
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/ts_112324666380272121/analysis
- Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/ts_112324666380272121.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording)

## Post text

> We have a Rigged Judge, who is working for the Democrat Party and refuses to terminate this “case,” which should have never been brought by Soft on Crime Alvin Bragg. Judge Merchan should immediately removed, and the Appellate Courts have to take over. That also applies to Corrupt Judge Engoron, who knew I did nothing wrong, and still fraudulently fined me $500 Million Dollars while having no knowledge of Valuation, Finance, or in any way what he was doing. Same with Judge Kaplan, who allowed a woman, who I have never met (celebrity photo line does not count!), and know nothing about, to get a lawless judgment of $90 Million Dollars. New York Justice is in shambles, and only the Appellate Courts can save it. A Republican doesn’t stand a chance - This is not Justice.…

## What the media says

**Video transcript** (6:15), transcribed automatically, so names and numbers may be wrong. Speakers aren't identified, so a voice in it may not be his:

> here with more fox news contributor jonathan turley is with us why do i doubt you get together with like-minded uh lawyers and say well what are we going to say about trump today why do i doubt that ever happened in your life ever he's you're an independent thinker well i've well i've never been so happy not to be invited somewhere so i i think that this is a mutual decision on both parties uh but you know look no matter how much they talk about it you can't make a sousier into a silk purse and that's what this trial is it's getting more and more embarrassing uh you know today they suggested there was a second crime another dead misdemeanor that they're zapping back into life uh he's saying that uh trump illegally conspired to promote his own election and it's it's you sort of get your mind around that uh even if everything that they stated is proven to be true factually all of the uh the payment of the the non-disclosure agreement uh the recording of it in this way that's not being really that contested because all of that can be true and there would still be no crime and that's what has left many of us mystified that the judge is letting this get by because we still don't see that legal linchpin the judge seems to be shrugging and saying well it's close enough for jazz let's go ahead and let it go to the jury when most of us don't see a crime here well let me look at this you have called this and an embarrassment you say you're in utter disbelief uh this case never should have been brought uh alan dershowitz uh andy mccarthy i mentioned the new york times op-ed mark levin greg jarrett and and i watched i listened very closely to the opening arguments they keep talking about a conspiracy to commit they talk about election fraud election interference all these big buzzwords none of which donald trump has even been been charged with in this case and i'm sitting there thinking beyond the fact the statute of limitations are gone beyond the fact that the judge donated to the biden campaign and there are questions about whether or not he should have recused himself i believe he should have uh beyond the fact that this is eight years old beyond the fact that the doj law that they're now relying on because new york state statutes don't cover this it's only a misdemeanor uh even in that case biden's doj passed on charging donald trump because they didn't think it was applicable you know how are we here and it's an it's a venue that is not friendly to donald trump you could still get a guilty verdict out of this jury that's scary to me it is scary and it is very much in the play here that i think that bragg is hoping the jury will not look beyond the identity of the defendant because you know the fact is they're saying well you shouldn't have listed this as a legal expense all right what is he supposed to list it as what if he put down nuisance payment what if he put down settlement of personal embarrassment would that really convert this to a non-crime there wasn't a crime here because this wasn't a federal campaign contribution the department of justice as you noted did not see that as a criminal act they did not charge that and so once again you get back to the role of the judge here that we're going through a trial that seems desperate to find a crime but you can't even get that from the indictment or the opening statements the fact that we had to wait for the opening statements for bragg to even fully articulate what his theory was shows how weak this case really is and it's only that weakness is only becoming more and more evident every day but okay but but what what i see them trying to do and correct me if you think i'm wrong i see that they're trying to muddy the waters they're using a lot of loaded terms about donald trump uh they sound like they're trying to make this into the crime of the century there's no applicable law and now you've now the defense has to explain all of that to mostly non-lawyers that are on a jury there are two lawyers apparently on the jury so my question is well what would you say to donald trump's attorneys how would you argue the smoke and mirrors that they keep throwing up and where are the objections i'd like to see more objections well they're going to have to keep on hammering away to this jury that it's not a question of proving facts that are lawful it's like saying we're going to approve we're going to show you he drove 55 miles an hour down the highway well you're allowed to do that right so they're setting up all of these factual claims that can be proven because they're largely not denied this the really reversible error in this case may come down to the instructions and how the judge tries to put this together for the jury because at some point he's got to inform the jury that there's nothing unlawful about an nda there's nothing this is not a federal campaign contribution in the view of the federal government but to make those legal issues clear is to disassemble this case so we a lot is going to be sort of unfolding here but i think the trump team has done a very good job so far in bringing that out and we're going to be looking at some major fireworks in the next few days you know when when you put cohen on the stand you're going to have a truly circus-like environment i mean you've got someone who a judge just recently denounced as a serial perjurer and he's going to get on the stand and he's going to be the star witness yeah and and you have a biden donating uh perhaps conflicted judge that should have been recused or should have recused himself uh which obviously would be an issue upon appeal but any appeal may happen after the election that that doesn't help. Jonathan Turley, thank you, we appreciate it.

## Media

- video: https://static-assets-1.truthsocial.com/tmtg:prime-ts-assets/media_attachments/files/112/324/665/657/299/011/original/3ac9390633db9e74.mp4

## Engagement

- Likes: 18,810
- Reposts: 5,605
- Replies: 1,854
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-02-01T01:19:51.360Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-03-21T07:31:50.042Z (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 2 AM Truth Social post — composed during Trump's active criminal hush money trial with David Pecker's testimony ongoing — represents a high-intensity narcissistic injury response at peak activation. Three sitting judges are named and labeled criminal actors (Merchan 'rigged,' Engoron 'corrupt/fraudulent,' Kaplan permitting a 'lawless judgment'), the New York judiciary is declared wholly corrupt, and a Biden-directed conspiracy is asserted as self-evident. Defense mechanisms operate at the immature-to-pathological tier: projection displaces fraud language entirely onto accusers; splitting admits no gray area; denial rejects the trial's legitimacy at the level of its existence; DARVO restructures the subject as victim of judicial crime. Documented numerical inflation is present — Engoron's ~$454M penalty inflated to '$500 Million'; Carroll's $83.3M award inflated to '$90 Million' — consistent with the subject's established pattern of upward distortion of grievances. Authorship is assessed as highly authentic (01:59 AM local EDT; grammatical error 'should immediately removed'). The post's danger profile is elevated: naming three sitting judges as corrupt fraudsters to millions of followers follows the stochastic terrorism pattern — identified target, articulated grievance, implied injustice demanding redress — that has preceded documented threats against these judges previously. No cognitive deviation from established baseline is present. The post is clinically consistent with paranoid features of malignant narcissism under acute institutional stress.

## Timing and Authorship

Published at 05:59 UTC on April 24, 2024. Trump was in New York City attending his criminal hush money trial (Week 2, David Pecker testimony ongoing). Local time: **approximately 01:59 EDT** — deep in the late-night/early-morning window most strongly associated with unfiltered, authentic Trump authorship. The grammatical lapse "Judge Merchan should immediately removed" (missing auxiliary "be") is a characteristic marker of unedited stream-of-consciousness composition. An aide would not leave that error. Authorship confidence: **high**.

---

## Contextual Trigger: Maximum Narcissistic Injury

This post was composed while Trump's criminal trial was actively underway — testimony from his own co-conspirator (Pecker) about the "catch and kill" operation, delivered in a Manhattan courtroom where Trump is required to sit largely silent. For a subject whose psychological organization centers on dominance, invulnerability, and the performance of winning, the courtroom presents maximum narcissistic injury: constrained presence, public humiliation, loss of narrative control, accountability by institutional force. The 2 AM posting time is consistent with trial-related insomnia and emotional dysregulation.

---

## Psychological State: Vulnerable Narcissism / Paranoid Persecution Schema

The post demonstrates the **vulnerable pole** of narcissistic oscillation. Rather than grandiose dominance, we see a persecution narrative in which the subject is uniquely and unjustly targeted by a coordinated, malevolent conspiracy. The paranoid schema is explicit: judges, the DA, the Democratic Party, and "Biden's White House" are framed as a unified criminal enterprise operating against him. This is Kernberg's paranoid sub-feature of malignant narcissism in direct expression.

Three sitting judges are named and labeled as criminal actors:
- **Judge Merchan**: "Rigged Judge," "working for the Democrat Party"
- **Judge Engoron**: "Corrupt," acted "fraudulently," "knew I did nothing wrong"
- **Judge Kaplan**: "allowed" a "lawless judgment"

The parallelism across three named individuals creates a rhetorical and psychological architecture of total judicial corruption, feeding a worldview in which there is no legitimate authority standing against him — only criminal actors, and the Appellate Courts as a last resort savior.

---

## Defense Mechanisms

**Denial** (pathological): "which should have never been brought" — wholesale rejection of the trial's legitimacy, not as opinion but stated as fact. Reality of the judicial proceedings is refused at the level of their existence.

**Projection** (immature): The subject, charged with falsifying business records, deploys the language of fraud and criminal wrongdoing exclusively toward his accusers. Engoron "fraudulently fined" him; the DA is running a "hit job." His own alleged fraud is displaced entirely onto the legal system prosecuting it.

**Splitting** (immature): Absolute binary categories with no nuance — all judges are corrupt, all Democrats are criminal, all Republicans are victims. There are no legitimate institutions, no gray areas.

**DARVO** (immature, composite): *Deny* ("knew I did nothing wrong"), *Attack* ("Corrupt Judge Engoron," "Rigged Judge"), *Reverse Victim and Offender* (repositions himself as victim of judicial criminality while on trial for alleged crimes).

**Rationalization** (neurotic): "a bookkeeper marked down 'Legal Expense' in a Ledger when describing Legal Fees paid to a lawyer. What else would you call it?" — logical-seeming justification for the underlying charge, framed as self-evident.

---

## Rhetorical Analysis

- **Permanent labeling/ad hominem**: Each figure receives a fixed pejorative label ("Soft on Crime," "Corrupt Judge Engoron") that precedes and forecloses substantive argument.
- **Numerical exaggeration**: Engoron's civil fraud penalty (approximately $354M principal; ~$454M with interest at the time) is inflated to "$500 Million." Carroll's $83.3M jury award (January 2024) is inflated to "$90 Million." This is a consistent upward distortion pattern in the subject's rhetoric — grievances are always larger than documented.
- **Parenthetical dismissal**: "(celebrity photo line does not count!)" — minimization of contested factual record through casual, conversational aside. The exclamation point signals emotional affect.
- **Institutional delegitimization**: "New York Justice is in shambles" — sweeping attack designed to pre-emptively discredit not just adverse rulings but the entire legal apparatus.
- **False dichotomy / tribal framing**: "A Republican doesn't stand a chance" — converts specific legal proceedings into a universal tribal grievance, mobilizing broader base identification.
- **Epistemic closure maintenance**: Frames all three cases as self-evidently corrupt, insulating followers from alternative interpretations.

---

## Gaslighting and Reality Distortion

The post contains multiple reality-distortion elements: the denial that E. Jean Carroll was met ("I have never met") contradicts photographic evidence of them at the same events; the framing of Engoron's ruling as "fraudulent" inverts the meaning of a civil court judgment; the characterization of the hush money trial as purely political elides the jury-decided process underway. These are not merely spin — they are demands that the audience accept an alternative factual reality as a condition of group membership.

---

## Danger Assessment

The post identifies three named sitting judges as "corrupt," "rigged," and acting "fraudulently" — to an audience exceeding 6 million Truth Social followers, plus broadcast amplification. While containing no explicit threat, the repeated judicial targeting by a figure with a documented history of followers acting on his public targeting rhetoric (all three judges received threats following prior Trump attacks) constitutes a meaningful stochastic terrorism pattern: named target + articulated grievance + implied injustice demanding redress. Danger level: **elevated**.

---

## Cognitive Status

One syntactic error ("should immediately removed," missing "be") reflects stream-of-consciousness composition, not cognitive impairment. Vocabulary, sentence construction, logical flow, and thematic coherence are consistent with established baseline for Trump's legal-grievance posting genre. Complexity is moderate; no perseveration beyond thematic repetition appropriate to context. No significant deviation from baseline.

---

## Narrative Identity (McAdams Level 3)

The subject casts himself as the **persecuted outsider and righteous fighter** — uniquely targeted, uniquely right, uniquely capable of exposing what others cannot see. The narrative sequence is **contamination**: legitimate legal standing (acquittal-worthy innocence) has been corrupted by criminal actors in robes. The contrasting other is the entire apparatus of New York Democratic governance. Identity claims are explicit: "I did nothing wrong," "A Republican doesn't stand a chance," and implicitly, *only I see this clearly*.

---

## Summary

This 2 AM post, composed during Trump's active criminal trial with Pecker's testimony ongoing, represents a high-intensity narcissistic injury response consistent with baseline patterns for legal proceedings but at peak activation. The vulnerable-paranoid pole of narcissistic oscillation is dominant: three sitting judges are named and labeled criminal, the entire New York judiciary is declared corrupt, and a Biden-directed conspiracy is asserted as self-evident fact. Defense mechanisms (projection, DARVO, splitting, denial) operate at the immature-pathological tier. Numerical inflation of financial penalties is documented (Engoron ~$454M inflated to $500M; Carroll $83.3M inflated to $90M). The post's danger profile is elevated: named judicial targets with articulated grievances to a large, primed audience follows the established stochastic terrorism pattern seen in prior Trump posts preceding threats against judges. Authorship is almost certainly authentic Trump, given 2 AM local timing and grammatical error. No cognitive deviation from established baseline is present. The post is clinically consistent with paranoid features of malignant narcissism under acute institutional stress.

## Fact Verification

| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|-------|---------|----------|
| "Judge Engoron fined Trump '$500 Million Dollars'" | **Mostly False** | The civil fraud judgment was approximately $354 million in penalties; with pre-judgment interest the total reached approximately $454 million at the time of judgment. '$500 million' is a roughly 10-40% exaggeration depending on which figure is used. |
| "Judge Kaplan allowed a 'lawless judgment of $90 Million Dollars' for Carroll" | **Mostly False** | The E. Jean Carroll defamation jury awarded $83.3 million in January 2024. The $90M figure is an inflation of approximately 8%. The characterization of 'lawless' is an opinion not supported by the appellate record. |
| "I have never met [Carroll]" | **Mostly False** | Photographic evidence and testimony place Trump and Carroll at the same social events in the 1980s-90s. Carroll herself and witnesses have testified to encounters. Trump's own deposition acknowledged recognizing her photo (confusing her briefly with Marla Maples). |
| "A bookkeeper marked down 'Legal Expense' in a Ledger when describing Legal Fees paid to a lawyer" | **Half True** | The prosecution's case is that the 'legal expense' entries were used to disguise payments that were in fact reimbursements for hush money paid to Stormy Daniels, not legitimate legal fees. The characterization omits the alleged underlying conduct. |
| "Alvin Bragg is 'Soft on Crime'" | **Mostly False** | Bragg's office maintained a high conviction rate and prosecuted numerous violent crimes. The 'soft on crime' characterization derives from his early policy memo on charging discretion for some lower-level offenses, which was partially revised. Independent assessments do not support the overall characterization. |

Overall Veracity: 26%

## Authorship Analysis

**Self-Written** (score: 91%)

### Indicators

- Post published at approximately 01:59 AM EDT (local New York time) — within the late-night window most associated with authentic Trump authorship
- Grammatical error 'should immediately removed' (missing auxiliary 'be') characteristic of unedited stream-of-consciousness composition
- Emotional escalation, parallel naming of three judges, and parenthetical asides ('(celebrity photo line does not count!)') match authentic Trump stylistic fingerprint
- Stream-of-consciousness structure with abrupt transitions between subjects (Bragg → Engoron → Kaplan)
- Use of ALL CAPS absent but heavy use of capital letters for emphasis on nouns ('Rigged Judge,' 'Corrupt Judge Engoron', 'Legal Expense')

## Psychological Profile

### State

**Vulnerable State**

**Trigger:** Narcissistic Injury — Exposure (Active criminal trial; Pecker testimony about 'catch and kill' scheme; mandatory courtroom attendance; institutional constraint)

**Rage:** Intensity 82% targeting Judges Merchan, Engoron, and Kaplan; Alvin Bragg; 'Biden Thugs'
- Proportionality: 18%

Sentiment: -0.87

**Mildly Hypomanic**
- 2 AM composition suggesting reduced sleep need or sleep disruption
- Rapid targeting of three separate named judicial figures in a single post
- Pressured, accumulative rhetorical structure with minimal logical development between targets
- Companion posts on same date show high volume output (Pennsylvania rally post, Page 2 continuation, RT) consistent with elevated activity

### Clinical

**Malignant Narcissism:**
- Narcissistic: 90%
- Antisocial: 68%
- Paranoid: 87%
- Sadism: 22%

**Defense Mechanisms:**
- denial (pathological)
- projection (immature)
- splitting (immature)
- rationalization (neurotic)
- passive aggression (immature)

**Cognitive Complexity:**
- Complexity: 52%

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- Tribal framing: 'A Republican doesn't stand a chance' converts personal legal jeopardy into universal grievance
- Epistemic closure: frames all three cases as self-evidently corrupt, insulating followers from alternative interpretations
- In-group/out-group activation: 'Democrat Party' as coordinated criminal conspiracy
- Implied call to action via 'Appellate Courts' — redirects follower frustration toward institutional targets

## Danger Assessment

**ELEVATED**

**Stochastic Terrorism Pattern Detected**

### Indicators

- Three named sitting judges (Merchan, Engoron, Kaplan) labeled as corrupt, rigged, and fraudulent to an audience exceeding 6 million Truth Social followers with broader amplification
- Stochastic terrorism pattern present: named judicial targets + articulated grievances (financial, legal) + implied injustice requiring remedy
- All three named judges have documented histories of receiving threats following prior Trump public attacks
- Institutional delegitimization ('New York Justice is in shambles') removes perceived legitimacy of judicial protection, potentially lowering follower threshold for action
- Companion 'Page 2' post explicitly calls for legislative mobilization: 'REPUBLICANS IN WASHINGTON MUST TAKE ACTION' — escalation from grievance to call for institutional response

### Gaslighting

- Denial of having met E. Jean Carroll ('a woman, who I have never met') contradicts photographic and testimonial evidence of presence at same events
- Characterization of Engoron's civil judgment as 'fraudulent' inverts the meaning of a lawfully conducted court proceeding
- Framing the hush money trial as purely political ('Election Interference') elides the grand jury indictment, jury selection, and evidentiary process
- Recharacterization of 'Legal Expense' ledger entry as self-evidently appropriate, demanding audience accept his interpretation against the jury's finding
- DARVO inversion: positions himself as victim of judicial criminality while on trial for alleged crimes

## Fact Checks (5)

_The model's verdicts from 2026-03-21._

> Judge Engoron fined Trump '$500 Million Dollars'

**MOSTLY FALSE**

The civil fraud judgment was approximately $354 million in penalties; with pre-judgment interest the total reached approximately $454 million at the time of judgment. '$500 million' is a roughly 10-40% exaggeration depending on which figure is used.

Sources: New York v. Trump civil fraud case, February 2024 judgment

> Judge Kaplan allowed a 'lawless judgment of $90 Million Dollars' for Carroll

**MOSTLY FALSE**

The E. Jean Carroll defamation jury awarded $83.3 million in January 2024. The $90M figure is an inflation of approximately 8%. The characterization of 'lawless' is an opinion not supported by the appellate record.

Sources: Carroll v. Trump, SDNY, January 26 2024 jury verdict

> I have never met [Carroll]

**MOSTLY FALSE**

Photographic evidence and testimony place Trump and Carroll at the same social events in the 1980s-90s. Carroll herself and witnesses have testified to encounters. Trump's own deposition acknowledged recognizing her photo (confusing her briefly with Marla Maples).

Sources: Carroll v. Trump trial record; deposition testimony

> A bookkeeper marked down 'Legal Expense' in a Ledger when describing Legal Fees paid to a lawyer

**HALF TRUE**

The prosecution's case is that the 'legal expense' entries were used to disguise payments that were in fact reimbursements for hush money paid to Stormy Daniels, not legitimate legal fees. The characterization omits the alleged underlying conduct.

Sources: Manhattan DA indictment; trial opening statements April 2024

> Alvin Bragg is 'Soft on Crime'

**MOSTLY FALSE**

Bragg's office maintained a high conviction rate and prosecuted numerous violent crimes. The 'soft on crime' characterization derives from his early policy memo on charging discretion for some lower-level offenses, which was partially revised. Independent assessments do not support the overall characterization.

Sources: Manhattan DA office prosecution statistics 2022-2024

Overall Veracity: 26%

## Tags

- narcissistic_injury (95%)
- paranoid_persecution_narrative (90%)
- DARVO (88%)
- judicial_targeting (85%)
- stochastic_terrorism_pattern (78%)
- numerical_exaggeration (82%)
- institutional_delegitimization (87%)
- hush_money_trial (95%)
- authentic_authorship (91%)
- vulnerable_narcissism (85%)
- epistemic_closure (80%)
- gaslighting (75%)

## That day

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

**Trial Insomnia Erupts at 2 AM as Trump Names Three Judges in Overnight Rage Spiral**

Trump spent the day under the shadow of his Manhattan criminal trial, and it showed. The evening started calmly enough with a thank-you to Pennsylvania supporters, but by 2 AM he was wide awake and firing off back-to-back attacks on three named judges, calling the prosecution a Biden-directed conspiracy and demanding Republicans intervene. By afternoon, his staff restored a veneer of normalcy with two boilerplate political endorsements, and the day closed with a combative riff using the Columbia University protests to attack Biden. The 2 AM outburst -- during a trial week requiring early morning court appearances -- was the day's most notable moment, reflecting genuine agitation rather than strategic messaging.

Full digest for 2024-04-24: https://trump.fm/date/2024-04-24/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2024, April 24). We have a Rigged Judge, who is working for the... [Social media post]. Truth Social. trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/ts_112324666380272121
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "We have a Rigged Judge, who is working for the Democrat..." Truth Social, 24 Apr. 2024. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_112324666380272121. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "We have a Rigged Judge, who is working for the Democrat...," Truth Social, April 24, 2024, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_112324666380272121.

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