# Post ts_117000461200836192

- Post ID: `ts_117000461200836192`
- Platform: Truth Social
- Posted: 2026-07-29T00:35:57.679Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/ts_117000461200836192
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/ts_117000461200836192/analysis
- Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/ts_117000461200836192.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording)

## Post text

> Fauci told everyone he was a great basketball player, so I assumed that he would be easily able to throw a ball to Home Plate. It turned out that he was a phony on that, just like he was on everything else (See below!). He was a terrible “athlete,” and this is, by far, the worst throw I have ever seen in years of watching first pitches! President DONALD J. TRUMP

## What the media says

**Video transcript** (0:24), transcribed automatically, so names and numbers may be wrong. Speakers aren't identified, so a voice in it may not be his:

> Dr. Fauci, when you're ready, it's your pitch. Dr. Anthony Fauci.

## Media

- video: https://static-assets-1.truthsocial.com/tmtg:prime-ts-assets/media_attachments/files/117/000/460/935/282/865/original/1d2e41366be4d8f8.mp4

## Engagement

- Likes: 19,057
- Reposts: 5,263
- Replies: 2,395
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-08-01T02:00:35.494Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-07-29T05:32:19.972Z (UTC): a model's reading of this post, not his words. Its psychological terms describe the language, not a clinical assessment of him._

## Summary

Assessed as authentic Trump (high confidence): evening post in his likely Eastern timezone reacting in real time to an attached video, with signature voice markers (scare quotes, superlative hyperbole, dual signature, anecdote-to-contempt drift). Psychologically, the post is a low-arousal but sadistically toned dominance display targeting a durable enemy, Anthony Fauci. Rather than acute narcissistic rage, it evinces cold contempt and evident pleasure in humiliation — mocking a physical failing (a bad first pitch) and generalizing it into total moral fraudulence (\"phony... just like he was on everything else\"). Primary defenses are devaluation and splitting, with a projective quality (attributing self-inflation to the target). The narcissistic state is grandiose: the self is cast as the discerning unmasker of a fraud. Rhetoric relies on ad hominem, hyperbole, sneer quotes, and hasty generalization, functioning as shared-enemy ridicule that bonds the audience. Danger indicators are absent — no dehumanization beyond ridicule, no eliminationist or mobilizing language, no target-plus-action pattern. Cognitive markers are within baseline: coherent syntax, intact sequencing, no word-finding or temporal difficulty. Clinically notable mainly for perseveration on a years-old grievance and ego-syntonic sadism as an interpersonal style, consistent with prior baseline rather than a marked deviation.

## Multi-Level Personality Analysis

### Authorship Attribution
**Assessment: Authentic Trump (high confidence, score 0.9).**

Timestamp 2026-07-29T00:35:57Z converts to approximately 8:35 PM EDT on July 28 in Trump's likely location (Washington/White House, consistent with the week's Oval Office references and a promised Monday press conference). This is an evening, off-hours post reacting in real time to an attached video clip.

Multiple authentic-voice markers: idiosyncratic scare quotes around "athlete," the informal narrative build ("so I assumed that he would be easily able to throw a ball to Home Plate"), the parenthetical real-time aside "(See below!)" pointing at attached media, superlative hyperbole ("by far, the worst throw I have ever seen"), and personal grievance directed at a long-standing enemy. The dual signature ("President DONALD J. TRUMP") is his habitual close. The structure — first-person anecdote drifting into contempt — is characteristic. No third-person framing, policy precision, or corporate polish typical of aide posts.

### Level 1: Dispositional Traits
- **Agreeableness: very low** — contempt, ridicule, name-calling ("phony," "terrible athlete").
- **Extraversion: high** — assertive, performative dominance display.
- **Neuroticism (angry hostility facet): elevated** — grudge-driven derogation.
- **Openness: low** — rigid enemy schema, no nuance.
- **Conscientiousness:** not salient.

### Level 2: Characteristic Adaptations
Agency motives dominate: **status and dominance** achieved by lowering a rival's standing. Communion motives absent. Core schema: the world divides into authentic winners (self) and exposed frauds (Fauci) — "just like he was on everything else" universalizes a single athletic anecdote into total moral indictment.

### Level 3: Narrative Identity
Trump casts himself as the discerning **truth-teller/unmasker** who saw through a "phony." Fauci serves as the **contrasting other** — a durable antagonist reactivated years after the original 2020 first-pitch episode. This is a **contamination sequence** applied to a target ("great basketball player" claim → revealed as fraud) and reflects **perseveration** on a settled grievance.

### Level 4: Clinical Indicators
- **Narcissistic state:** grandiose (superior judge of others' authenticity), not vulnerable.
- **Sadism (ego-syntonic):** present and moderate — evident pleasure in publicly humiliating Fauci via mockery of a physical failure; humiliation as dominance display.
- **Antisocial/paranoid features:** grudge-bearing; contempt, but no threat.
- **Defenses:** devaluation (primary), splitting (phony-on-everything totalizing), projection (attributing "phony" self-inflation — a trait salient in the poster — onto the target).

### Rhetorical Techniques
Ad hominem (attack the man, not any argument), hyperbole/superlative ("worst throw... in years"), scare quotes to sneer ("athlete"), and hasty generalization ("just like he was on everything else"). Firehose-adjacent reputation attack.

### Danger Assessment
**None.** No eliminationist language, dehumanization, target-plus-action pattern, or mobilization. Personal ridicule only.

### Cognitive Status
Syntax coherent, narrative logically sequenced, no word-finding difficulty, paraphasia, or temporal confusion. Consistent with baseline. No deviation flagged.

## Fact Verification

| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|-------|---------|----------|
| "Fauci told everyone he was a great basketball player." | **Half True** | Anthony Fauci has publicly noted he was captain of his high school basketball team (Regis High School). He played competitively, but the characterization that he told "everyone he was a great" player is Trump's rhetorical framing rather than a documented boast. |
| "This is by far the worst first-pitch throw ever seen." | **Mostly False** | The claim refers to Anthony Fauci's ceremonial first pitch on July 23, 2020 at Nationals Park before the Yankees–Nationals season opener. The underlying premise is true: Fauci, then 79, wound up and threw the ball wide left and short of home plate, forcing Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle to chase it down. The moment was widely mocked and became an enduring meme, and one partisan opinion outlet (Fox News/OutKick) did call it 'inarguably, the worst first pitch in the history of Major League Baseball' — though even that piece's own headline hedged to 'one of the worst' and made no actual comparison to other pitches.

However, the specific superlative — that it is 'by far the worst first-pitch throw ever seen' — is contradicted by the documented record and was directly rebutted at the time. The Associated Press ran an article headlined 'Fauci's toss not worst first pitch ever.' A dedicated CBS Sports ranking of the '10 worst ceremonial first pitches in MLB history' does not include Fauci at all; it ranks 50 Cent, Gary 'Baba Booey' Dell'Abate, Carly Rae Jepsen, Mark Mallory, Mariah Carey, Conor McGregor, Michael Jordan, Carl Lewis and others. Objectively worse throws are well documented: Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory hit the umpire's foot (drawing a mock ejection) and failed again on a second try; Baba Booey hit the umpire on the fly; 50 Cent's throw sailed wide enough to nearly hit a cameraman; and Carly Rae Jepsen's double-bounced while barely traveling. An NBC Sports Washington reporter said he had 'seen worse.'

Several additional facts undercut the superlative. Fauci's throw actually carried real velocity ('I wound up and threw it like a bullet, only it just went way off to the left,' he explained, blaming a mismeasured practice distance) rather than being a weak dribble, and contemporary coverage frequently treated it as a lighthearted 'juuust a bit outside' moment (a Bob Uecker reference) rather than a historic disgrace. Fauci also threw a markedly better pitch in August 2022 at a Mariners game — it reached home plate, and outlets said he 'redeemed himself' — so even his own first-pitch record is not uniformly terrible.

Because the statement is Trump's subjective hyperbole/opinion (‘the worst throw I have ever seen’), it is not strictly falsifiable as a matter of personal perception, which is why it does not rate a flat ‘false.’ But evaluated as the factual-sounding superlative it presents — 'by far the worst … ever' — it is not supported by and is largely contradicted by the record: an AP article expressly denied it, dedicated 'worst first pitch' rankings omit Fauci, and multiple throws (some of which struck umpires or nearly hit cameramen) are widely regarded as worse. Note also there was no new 2026 Fauci first pitch; the post recycles the 2020 clip. |
| "Fauci was a phony on everything." | **False** | This is an unsupported totalizing generalization/opinion; a single poor athletic performance does not substantiate a claim of universal dishonesty. |

Overall Veracity: 23%

## Authorship Analysis

**Self-Written** (score: 90%)

### Indicators

- Evening/off-hours timing (~8:35 PM EDT) reacting in real time to attached video
- First-person anecdotal build drifting into personal contempt
- Idiosyncratic scare quotes around "athlete"
- Parenthetical real-time aside "(See below!)" pointing at media
- Superlative hyperbole "by far, the worst throw I have ever seen"

## Psychological Profile

### State

**Grandiose State**

**Trigger:** Maintenance (Attached video of Fauci's first pitch (reactivated grievance))

Sentiment: -0.60

### Clinical

**Malignant Narcissism:**
- Narcissistic: 60%
- Antisocial: 40%
- Paranoid: 35%
- Sadism: 50%

**Defense Mechanisms:**
- devaluation (immature)
- splitting (immature)
- projection (immature)

**Cognitive Complexity:**
- Complexity: 50%

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- Shared-enemy bonding (inviting audience to laugh at a mocked figure)
- In-group ridicule ritual

## Fact Checks (3)

_The model's verdicts from 2026-07-29._

> Fauci told everyone he was a great basketball player.

**HALF TRUE**

Anthony Fauci has publicly noted he was captain of his high school basketball team (Regis High School). He played competitively, but the characterization that he told "everyone he was a great" player is Trump's rhetorical framing rather than a documented boast.

> This is by far the worst first-pitch throw ever seen.

**MOSTLY FALSE**

The claim refers to Anthony Fauci's ceremonial first pitch on July 23, 2020 at Nationals Park before the Yankees–Nationals season opener. The underlying premise is true: Fauci, then 79, wound up and threw the ball wide left and short of home plate, forcing Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle to chase it down. The moment was widely mocked and became an enduring meme, and one partisan opinion outlet (Fox News/OutKick) did call it 'inarguably, the worst first pitch in the history of Major League Baseball' — though even that piece's own headline hedged to 'one of the worst' and made no actual comparison to other pitches.

However, the specific superlative — that it is 'by far the worst first-pitch throw ever seen' — is contradicted by the documented record and was directly rebutted at the time. The Associated Press ran an article headlined 'Fauci's toss not worst first pitch ever.' A dedicated CBS Sports ranking of the '10 worst ceremonial first pitches in MLB history' does not include Fauci at all; it ranks 50 Cent, Gary 'Baba Booey' Dell'Abate, Carly Rae Jepsen, Mark Mallory, Mariah Carey, Conor McGregor, Michael Jordan, Carl Lewis and others. Objectively worse throws are well documented: Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory hit the umpire's foot (drawing a mock ejection) and failed again on a second try; Baba Booey hit the umpire on the fly; 50 Cent's throw sailed wide enough to nearly hit a cameraman; and Carly Rae Jepsen's double-bounced while barely traveling. An NBC Sports Washington reporter said he had 'seen worse.'

Several additional facts undercut the superlative. Fauci's throw actually carried real velocity ('I wound up and threw it like a bullet, only it just went way off to the left,' he explained, blaming a mismeasured practice distance) rather than being a weak dribble, and contemporary coverage frequently treated it as a lighthearted 'juuust a bit outside' moment (a Bob Uecker reference) rather than a historic disgrace. Fauci also threw a markedly better pitch in August 2022 at a Mariners game — it reached home plate, and outlets said he 'redeemed himself' — so even his own first-pitch record is not uniformly terrible.

Because the statement is Trump's subjective hyperbole/opinion (‘the worst throw I have ever seen’), it is not strictly falsifiable as a matter of personal perception, which is why it does not rate a flat ‘false.’ But evaluated as the factual-sounding superlative it presents — 'by far the worst … ever' — it is not supported by and is largely contradicted by the record: an AP article expressly denied it, dedicated 'worst first pitch' rankings omit Fauci, and multiple throws (some of which struck umpires or nearly hit cameramen) are widely regarded as worse. Note also there was no new 2026 Fauci first pitch; the post recycles the 2020 clip.

Sources: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/jul/26/faucis-toss-not-worst-first-pitch-ever/; https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/a-look-at-the-10-worst-ceremonial-first-pitches-in-mlb-history/; https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/anthony-fauci-delivered-worst-first-pitches-baseball-history-six-years-ago; https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/watch-dr-anthony-fauci-redeems-himself-throws-out-first-pitch-that-lands-near-home-plate-at-mariners-game/; https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2020/07/23/dr-anthony-faucis-first-pitch-was-juuust-a-bit-outside/; https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2902353-dr-anthony-fauci-explains-his-1st-pitch-at-mlb-season-opener; https://sports.yahoo.com/article/dr-anthony-fauci-why-wild-pitch-wrong-distance-nationals-yankees-144605678.html; https://meaww.com/fauci-50-cent-mlb-2020-first-pitch-internet-reactions-worst-fail-throws-history; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Mallory; https://time.com/3137968/funny-worst-first-pitches/; https://www.mlb.com/news/anthony-fauci-receives-mariners-hutch-award-throws-out-1st-pitch

> Fauci was a phony on everything.

**FALSE**

This is an unsupported totalizing generalization/opinion; a single poor athletic performance does not substantiate a claim of universal dishonesty.

Overall Veracity: 23%

## Tags

- authentic (90%)
- anthony-fauci (95%)
- devaluation (85%)
- splitting (60%)
- ad-hominem (85%)
- hyperbole (70%)
- sadism (50%)
- perseveration-grievance (60%)
- contrasting-other (70%)
- grandiose (70%)

## That day

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

**Trump shares a screenshot calling his own appointee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, "clearly terrified of the left"**

Trump's posts ran from one evening into the next, with a long break overnight. The first evening opened with him mocking Anthony Fauci's ceremonial first pitch, followed by short, staff-style notes on meetings with Zelenskyy and Netanyahu, a House endorsement and a Senate budget push. The next morning he went back to Fauci, taking credit for the Covid vaccine program and saying he had overruled Fauci's "CRAZY" ideas. By afternoon he had moved on to the Supreme Court: he shared a screenshot calling Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whom he appointed, "clearly terrified of the left," and that evening wrote that the Court's rulings on tariffs and birthright citizenship had cost the country "TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS." The Barrett post was the day's sharpest: it singled out a sitting Justice while his own requests are before the Court, though nothing he wrote urged anyone to act.

Full digest for 2026-07-29: https://trump.fm/date/2026-07-29/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2026, July 29). Fauci told everyone he was a great basketball... [Social media post]. Truth Social. trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/ts_117000461200836192
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "Fauci told everyone he was a great basketball player, so I..." Truth Social, 29 Jul. 2026. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_117000461200836192. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "Fauci told everyone he was a great basketball player, so I...," Truth Social, July 29, 2026, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_117000461200836192.

## 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_117000461200836192
- Analysis as JSON: https://trump.fm/api/analysis/ts_117000461200836192
- All citation formats: https://trump.fm/api/cite/ts_117000461200836192
- Same day: https://trump.fm/date/2026-07-29
- The record alone, without the analysis: https://trump.fm/post/ts_117000461200836192.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`._