Analysis: Go out and get Andrew McCarthy’s new book, “Ball of Collusio...

7y ago Aug 15, 2019 at 4:26 PM

Go out and get Andrew McCarthy’s new book, “Ball of Collusion.” “Supervision became the investigator, and when they pushed the envelope, there was nobody there to tell them NO. It goes right to the President (Obama). Plenty of information that Obama was informed &amp, knew exactly...

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AI Analysis

Machine-generated analysis of the post above on 2026-03-18. Not written by the author of the post.

Danger Level

None

Narcissistic State

Grandiose

Authorship

Uncertain

Intensity

48%

This post deploys a book-endorsement as narcissistic injury repair, outsourcing the counter-attack on the Russia investigation to conservative legal commentator Andrew McCarthy while Trump maintains rhetorical distance. The unresolved HTML entity (&amp,) suggests composition via web browser or copied text rather than native app. Posting at 12:26 PM EDT at Bedminster creates authorship ambiguity, though the intensely personal content aligns with authentic Trump preoccupation. The core dynamic is grandiose-pole narcissism — not the vulnerable, wounded register, but the vindicated, "I told you so" mode. Defense mechanisms include projection (reframing investigators as criminals), rationalization (using credentialed authority for cover), and splitting (corrupt Deep State vs. innocent subject). The strategic truncation at "...knew exactly..." exploits epistemic suspense, inviting audiences to complete an accusation never fully stated. DARVO pattern is structurally present: the party under investigation reframes himself as victim of the highest-level political conspiracy. The claim that Obama "knew exactly" and directed the investigation goes materially beyond established public record and rates as mostly false. No danger indicators. Clinically, this post is notable primarily as a data point in the longitudinal pattern of Russia-investigation obsession persisting well past the Mueller report's conclusion — consistent with a narcissistic injury of sufficient depth that routine vindication (report released, no charges) proves insufficient for complete repair.

Authorship Analysis

Uncertain

Indicators:

Midday post (12:26 PM EDT at Bedminster NJ, his likely August vacation location) — overlaps aide-hours but not definitively
Unresolved HTML entity '&amp,' visible in post — suggests text copied from web source or composed in a web interface, atypical of native Twitter app use
Book-promotion format is consistent with aide-assisted amplification of conservative media figures
Direct quote style and cut-off trailing ellipsis ('...knew exactly...') is consistent with Trump's own threading habit — authentic signature
Content aligns perfectly with Trump's personal obsessions: exonerating himself, implicating Obama

Psychological Profile

▶ State

Grandiose State

Trigger: Narcissistic Injury — Exposure (Mueller investigation / Russia collusion narrative)

Sentiment

-0.45

▶ Clinical

Malignant Narcissism:

Narcissistic

72%

Antisocial

35%

Paranoid

60%

Sadism

20%

Defense Mechanisms:

projectionrationalizationsplitting

Cognitive Complexity:

Complexity

52%

Parasocial Techniques:

Direct command ('Go out and get') mimics trusted friend giving adviceBook as proxy — third-party authority does the attacking while maintaining plausible distanceTrailing ellipsis creates cliffhanger, compelling followers to seek more

Danger Assessment

None

Gaslighting Detected:

Frames the Russia investigation — a formally initiated counterintelligence inquiry — as an illegal political operation, attacking the legitimacy of documented institutional process
Implies Obama's involvement as established fact by quoting it without qualification, treating interpretive claim as settled record
Retroactive reality revision: positions the investigation as the crime, inverting the inquiry's original framing

Reality Distortions:

'It goes right to the President (Obama)' — presented as factual without evidentiary qualification; contradicts IG Horowitz findings (December 2019) showing no evidence of political direction
'Knew exactly' implies certainty of Obama's knowledge and intent that is not established in public record
Framing of investigative supervision as inherently corrupt ('Supervision became the investigator') elides legitimate predication for Crossfire Hurricane

Fact Checks (2)

"Andrew McCarthy published a book called 'Ball of Collusion'"

True

Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency was published by Encounter Books in August 2019.

"Obama was informed and knew exactly what the investigators were doing"

Mostly False

The December 2019 Horowitz IG report found no evidence of political bias directing the Crossfire Hurricane investigation and did not establish that Obama directed or improperly influenced investigative decisions. Normal presidential briefings occurred but are not equivalent to the orchestration implied.

Receipts

No contradictions with other posts detected yet.

Psychological Analysis: August 15, 2019 — "Ball of Collusion" Book Promotion

Authorship Attribution

Confidence: Medium | Lean authentic with possible aide formatting

Trump was almost certainly at Bedminster, NJ (his summer retreat) on this date. UTC 16:26 converts to 12:26 PM EDT — within normal aide-working hours, which creates ambiguity. However, two factors complicate the clean aide-written classification: (1) the unresolved HTML entity &, visible in the post indicates text was likely copied from a webpage or composed in a browser environment rather than a native Twitter app — this is an atypical production artifact for polished aide drafts; (2) the content is intensely personal, touching directly on Trump's primary narcissistic grievance. Book promotions of this type (conservative media validation of Trump's legal narrative) appear frequently as authentic Trump posts. Assessment: authentic intent, possibly formatted/posted with aide assistance.

Multi-Level Personality Analysis

Level 1: Dispositional Traits

The post foregrounds low agreeableness (adversarial framing, accusatory implication toward Obama), high assertiveness (imperative command: "Go out and get"), and high neuroticism-adjacent rumination on the investigation — a topic that remained a persistent preoccupation months after the Mueller report concluded. The controlled, almost satisfied tone places this in the grandiose rather than vulnerable narcissistic register; the subject presents as vindicated, not wounded.

Level 2: Characteristic Adaptations

The dominant operative motive is agency/power: specifically, the need to retrospectively delegitimize the investigation and restore the narrative of his own innocence and the opposition's criminality. The book serves as an achievement-by-proxy — someone credentialed has done the intellectual work of vindication that Trump cannot perform himself without triggering accusations of self-interest.

Level 3: Narrative Identity

Protagonist role: Wronged truth-teller / political persecution survivor
Sequence: Contamination-to-redemption — a legitimate presidency was contaminated by a politically motivated investigation, now being exposed
Contrasting other: Obama (orchestrator), unnamed FBI/DOJ supervisors (corrupt actors)
Identity claim: "I was right all along; now the record shows it"

The truncation at "...knew exactly..." is not incidental — it is a narrative cliffhanger that positions the speaker as someone with access to damaging information being progressively revealed, sustaining audience engagement and reinforcing the persecution narrative.

Level 4: Clinical Indicators

Narcissistic injury repair is the primary dynamic. The Mueller investigation represented perhaps the most sustained external threat to Trump's grandiose self-construct: a formal governmental inquiry predicated on the possibility of his campaign's criminality. Even after the report's inconclusive findings, the injury required ongoing repair. McCarthy's book functions as external object for this repair — a credentialed conservative voice confirming the narrative Trump needed to be true.

Defense mechanisms present:

Projection (immature): Investigators' alleged overreach is framed as the real crime; Trump's situation is reversed — he is the investigated party but the implicit message positions Obama as the true subject of appropriate legal scrutiny
Rationalization (neurotic): The book lends structured, argued cover to what would otherwise appear as raw personal grievance
Splitting (immature): Binary world — corrupt investigators vs. innocent subject

Paranoid features (moderate): The implication that the President of the United States personally directed an investigation against Trump represents a significant conspiratorial cognitive schema — one requiring evidence well beyond what was publicly established. The certainty implied by "knew exactly" (sourced from McCarthy) is treated as settled fact rather than interpretive claim.

Rhetorical and Propaganda Analysis

The post exemplifies laundered accusation via credentialed proxy: rather than directly accusing Obama of criminal conspiracy (which would invite immediate pushback), Trump cites a National Review contributor's book, gaining the rhetorical benefits of the accusation while maintaining deniability ("I'm just recommending a book"). The parenthetical (Obama) is a precise rhetorical strike — it ensures the implication lands without requiring Trump to construct the logical chain himself.

The trailing ellipsis ("...knew exactly...") performs double duty: it mimics the natural cut-off of a long quote while generating epistemic suspense, compelling the audience to imaginatively complete an accusation that was never fully stated. This is a sophisticated — likely inadvertently sophisticated — manipulation of reader psychology.

DARVO pattern is structurally present: the investigation of Trump is reframed as Trump (and America) being victimized by Obama's administration, reversing the victim and offender roles at the highest possible institutional level.

Cognitive Status

No markers of concern in this post. The language is coherent, the quoted material is accurately attributed, and the logical flow (however conspiratorial) is internally consistent. The HTML entity error (&,) reflects a technical artifact of composition method, not a cognitive production error. Consistent with baseline.

Contextual Note

This post appears against the backdrop of: the Epstein death (same period, generating conspiracy theories Trump amplified), gun control pressure, Dow drop on recession fears, and multiple international crises (Hong Kong, Kashmir). The choice to post about a book relitigating the 2016-2019 Russia investigation on a day of acute news volume is itself clinically informative — it suggests the Russia narrative remained a prioritized psychological preoccupation even amid more immediate policy demands, consistent with an unresolved narcissistic injury continuing to demand repair.

Danger Assessment

None. No eliminationist language, no mobilizing rhetoric, no violent imagery. The accusation is directed at a former president through the mediation of a published book. Danger level: none.

Fact Verification

Claim	Verdict	Evidence
"Andrew McCarthy published a book called 'Ball of Collusion'"	True	Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency was published by Encounter Books in August 2019.
"Obama was informed and knew exactly what the investigators were doing"	Mostly False	The December 2019 Horowitz IG report found no evidence of political bias directing the Crossfire Hurricane investigation and did not establish that Obama directed or improperly influenced investigative decisions. Normal presidential briefings occurred but are not equivalent to the orchestration implied.

Overall Veracity: 60%