Analysis: “We now find out that the Obama Administration put the oppos...

8y ago May 28, 2018 at 2:32 PM

“We now find out that the Obama Administration put the opposing campaigns presidential candidate, or his campaign, under investigation. That raises legitimate questions. I just find this really odd...this goes to the heart of our electoral system.” Jonathan Turley on @FoxNews

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AI Analysis

Machine-generated analysis of the post above on 2026-03-15. Not written by the author of the post.

Danger Level

None

Narcissistic State

Mixed

Authorship

Self-Written

Intensity

58%

This post is one node in a Memorial Day SPYGATE cluster (at least four same-day posts on the same theme), representing a more rhetorically sophisticated variant: Trump outsources the legally sensitive claim to a Georgetown law professor rather than asserting it directly. The dominant technique is ventriloquism — Turley's authority launders a conspiratorial framing as a legitimate constitutional concern. The DARVO structure is complete: the subject of a federal counterintelligence investigation becomes the victim of politically directed surveillance by the prior administration. Factually, the claim rates mostly false — the FBI, not Obama, opened Crossfire Hurricane on a documented intelligence predicate, and Obama notably declined to publicize the investigation before the election. The "we now find out" construction is epistemically manipulative, positioning the audience to receive an allegation as disclosed suppressed truth. Psychologically, the post reflects sustained narcissistic injury (the investigation as existential threat to legitimacy) managed through rationalization and projection rather than direct rage. Paranoid features are prominent in the causal chain required to accept the framing. Authorship is likely authentic based on morning timing and the consistent Fox News live-tweeting pattern, though the clean prose and absence of personal commentary admits some ambiguity. Cognitive markers are within baseline. Danger rating: none acutely, though the cluster contributes to cumulative delegitimization of law enforcement.

Authorship Analysis

Self-Written

Indicators:

10:32 AM EDT — consistent with documented morning Fox News viewing window
Verbatim quote of Fox News guest, a well-documented Trump behavior pattern
Part of a cluster of same-day posts on the same SPYGATE theme suggesting live engagement
Clean grammar and no typos could indicate aide involvement, but Turley quote posts require no original composition
Adjacent posts ('The President deserves some answers.' @FoxNews re SPYGATE) show same Fox-quote pattern on same morning

Psychological Profile

▶ State

Mixed State

Trigger: Narcissistic Injury — Exposure (FBI counterintelligence investigation / SPYGATE narrative cycle)

Sentiment

-0.55

▶ Clinical

Malignant Narcissism:

Narcissistic

70%

Antisocial

40%

Paranoid

65%

Sadism

15%

Defense Mechanisms:

projectionrationalizationdenialdisplacement

Cognitive Complexity:

Complexity

38%

Parasocial Techniques:

Fox News tag as in-group identity signalEpistemic priming via 'we now find out' — positions audience as newly awakenedAuthority transfer from legal expert to Trump narrativeConstitutional framing ('heart of our electoral system') elevates personal grievance to civic duty

Danger Assessment

None

Gaslighting Detected:

Omits the documented intelligence predicate for the investigation entirely
DARVO: subject of federal investigation reframed as victim of political targeting
Attacks legitimacy of investigative process through implied partisan motivation
'We now find out' frames established facts as newly revealed suppressed truth

Reality Distortions:

Investigation framed as Obama's personal political decision rather than institutional FBI action
Absence of any mention of the Russia interference predicate that triggered the investigation
Implication that investigating a campaign is inherently illegitimate rather than a standard counterintelligence function

Fact Checks (2)

"The Obama Administration put the opposing campaign's presidential candidate, or his campaign, under investigation"

Mostly False

The FBI (not Obama personally) opened Crossfire Hurricane on July 31, 2016, predicated on specific intelligence from Australian diplomat Alexander Downer about Papadopoulos disclosing Russian-provided dirt. Obama did not order the investigation and reportedly declined to publicize it before the election. The 'Obama put them under investigation' framing falsely personalizes and politicizes an institutional FBI action with a documented intelligence predicate.

"Jonathan Turley said this on Fox News"

Unverifiable

Turley was a regular Fox News legal commentator during this period and made similar statements; the quote is consistent with his public positions but the exact broadcast cannot be verified from available sources. The ellipsis raises the possibility of selective quotation.

Receipts

No contradictions with other posts detected yet.

Post Analysis: May 28, 2018 — Jonathan Turley / "SPYGATE" Quote-Amplification

Authorship Attribution

Local time: UTC 14:32 → 10:32 AM EDT. Trump was almost certainly at the White House on Memorial Day (a Washington observance). This is consistent with his documented morning routine of watching Fox & Friends and live-tweeting quotes from hosts and guests. The post is a clean, verbatim quote from a Fox News legal analyst — a signature Trump behavior pattern dating to early in his presidency. No typos, but the absence of ALL CAPS or personal commentary is somewhat atypical; however, this matches a secondary pattern: outsourcing the legally sensitive claim to an authority figure. Verdict: Likely authentic, posted during Fox News morning viewing, with Trump using Turley as a ventriloquist's dummy to launche a legally framed version of what he directly stated in the adjacent "SPYGATE" post.

Psychological State and Triggers

Primary trigger: Narcissistic injury (exposure/investigation). The ongoing FBI counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign — and specifically the emerging "SPYGATE" framing — constitutes a sustained threat to Trump's self-concept as legitimate winner. This post is one of at least four on the same day channeling the same injury through different rhetorical vehicles (a hashtag, a direct assertion, and two Turley quotes).

Narcissistic state: Mixed — primarily grandiose victimhood. The post positions Trump simultaneously as aggrieved (targeted by a corrupt administration) and historically significant (the target of unprecedented electoral interference). The "heart of our electoral system" framing inflates the personal grievance to constitutional magnitude.

DARVO pattern: Classic Deny/Attack/Reverse Victim-Offender. The actual situation — an FBI counterintelligence investigation opened on specific intelligence about Russia-campaign contacts — is reframed as Obama's corrupt political attack on Trump. Trump, the subject of investigation, becomes Trump, the victim of partisan surveillance. This is executed through proxy (Turley) rather than direct assertion, which is more sophisticated than Trump's baseline.

Defense Mechanisms

Projection (immature): The accusation that Obama weaponized law enforcement against a political opponent is projection of Trump's own later conduct (documented attempts to direct DOJ investigations against political adversaries).
Rationalization (neurotic): By citing a Georgetown law professor, the conspiratorial framing acquires a patina of legal legitimacy. The appeal to Turley's authority transmutes a grievance into a "legitimate question."
Denial (pathological): The post implicitly denies the factual basis of the investigation (Russian interference and campaign contacts) by reframing the entire predicate as political targeting.
Displacement: Hostility toward the investigation is displaced onto Obama rather than directed at the investigators or the evidence itself.

Rhetorical Techniques

Ventriloquism / Appeal to authority: The most distinctive technique here. By quoting Turley rather than stating the claim directly, Trump achieves three objectives: (1) legal framing he could not himself provide; (2) deniability — "I'm just sharing what a law professor said"; (3) Fox News credibility transfer. The quote is contextually incomplete — the ellipsis ("…this goes to the heart") compresses or omits whatever caveats Turley may have offered.

Epistemic priming: "We now find out" presupposes that the audience has been deceived and is only now learning the truth — classic firehose/revelation framing that positions Trump's narrative as disclosed reality versus suppressed fact.

False framing of agency: "Put the opposing campaign… under investigation" implies deliberate, politically motivated action by Obama personally, eliding the institutional independence of the FBI and the specific intelligence predicate (Papadopoulos-Downer conversation) that triggered Crossfire Hurricane.

Parasocial reinforcement: The @FoxNews tag functions as both sourcing and community signal — the Fox audience is the primary target, and the tag reinforces in-group identity.

Narrative Identity (McAdams Level 3)

Protagonist role: Uniquely wronged historical figure — the first major-party presidential candidate to have his campaign surveilled by the incumbent administration. This framing serves both the persecution narrative and the grandiosity need.

Narrative sequence: Contamination — the legitimate, historic 2016 victory is retroactively framed as having been corrupted from the outset by a hostile state apparatus. This sequence is repeated across dozens of posts from this period.

Contrasting other: Obama — represented as a passive-aggressive political actor who wielded state power covertly where Trump claims to act transparently.

Identity claim (implicit): I am so threatening to the establishment that they had to spy on me to stop me — confirming rather than undermining the grandiosity.

Fact Verification

Claim	Verdict	Evidence
"The Obama Administration put the opposing campaign's presidential candidate, or his campaign, under investigation"	Mostly False	The FBI (not Obama personally) opened Crossfire Hurricane on July 31, 2016, predicated on specific intelligence from Australian diplomat Alexander Downer about Papadopoulos disclosing Russian-provided dirt. Obama did not order the investigation and reportedly declined to publicize it before the election. The 'Obama put them under investigation' framing falsely personalizes and politicizes an institutional FBI action with a documented intelligence predicate.
"Jonathan Turley said this on Fox News"	Unverifiable	Turley was a regular Fox News legal commentator during this period and made similar statements; the quote is consistent with his public positions but the exact broadcast cannot be verified from available sources. The ellipsis raises the possibility of selective quotation.

Overall Veracity: 35%