Analysis: Kevin McAleenan has done an outstanding job as Acting Secret...

6y ago Oct 12, 2019 at 3:46 AM

Kevin McAleenan has done an outstanding job as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security. We have worked well together with Border Crossings being way down. Kevin now, after many years in Government, wants to spend more time with his family and go to the private sector....

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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

15%

Authorship Analysis

Uncertain

Indicators:

Late-night timing (11:46 PM EDT) consistent with authentic Trump posting hours
Ellipsis at end suggests a thread — authentic Trump often trails off mid-thought
However, language is unusually polished and syntactically complete for Trump
Formulaic 'spend more time with family' language reads as pre-drafted boilerplate
Absence of typos, ALL CAPS, or emotional reactivity

Psychological Profile

▶ State

Grandiose State

Trigger: Maintenance — Exposure (McAleenan departure requiring narrative management)

Sentiment

+0.55

▶ Clinical

Malignant Narcissism:

Narcissistic

30%

Antisocial

10%

Paranoid

Sadism

Defense Mechanisms:

rationalizationreaction formation

Cognitive Complexity:

Complexity

42%

Parasocial Techniques:

Implicit claim of credit for border numbers ('Border Crossings being way down')

Danger Assessment

None

Gaslighting Detected:

'Wants to spend more time with his family' applies voluntary/positive framing to what reporting suggests was a friction-laden departure, managing audience perception of internal chaos

Reality Distortions:

Voluntary departure framing elides evidence of internal dysfunction and frustration with the role

Fact Checks (2)

"Border Crossings being way down"

Mostly True

CBP data shows border encounters peaked at ~144,000 in May 2019 and fell significantly through summer-fall 2019, reaching ~45,000 by October 2019. However, causation is contested — agreements with Mexico and Guatemala and seasonal patterns contributed substantially alongside DHS enforcement priorities.

"Kevin McAleenan wants to spend more time with his family and go to the private sector"

Half True

McAleenan did resign voluntarily and did subsequently enter the private sector. However, reporting from multiple outlets indicated significant frustration with internal White House dynamics, policy conflicts, and the difficulty of the acting role — casting doubt on 'family time' as primary motivation.

Receipts

No contradictions with other posts detected yet.

Psychological Analysis: x_1182804700699086800 (2019-10-12)

Situational Context

This post announces the departure of Kevin McAleenan as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security. The surrounding political environment was exceptionally turbulent: impeachment inquiry underway, Giuliani associates arrested hours earlier at Dulles, tax return rulings, and the Syria withdrawal generating bipartisan backlash. Another high-profile Cabinet departure in this context carried significant reputational risk, making narrative management the operative function of this post.

Authorship Attribution

Score: 0.45 (mixed — slight lean toward aide-assisted)

UTC 03:46:30 converts to 11:46 PM EDT (Trump likely in Washington DC following the October 10 Minneapolis rally). Late-night timing is a strong authentic-Trump indicator. However, the prose quality is anomalously polished: complete sentences, no typos, no ALL CAPS, no emotional charge. The 'spend more time with his family' construction is textbook political departure boilerplate. Most likely interpretation: aide-drafted or comms-assisted text that Trump approved and posted himself, possibly adding the trailing ellipsis.

Multi-Level Personality Analysis

Level 1: Dispositional Traits

The post is markedly low on neuroticism relative to surrounding posts ("A terrible and very dishonest person!" posted same day). Agreeableness is performed rather than authentic — the collegiality is instrumentally deployed. Extraversion manifests as reflexive accomplishment-claiming even in a farewell statement.

Level 2: Characteristic Adaptations

Agency motives dominate: the border-crossing credit insertion mid-farewell reveals automatic self-referential attribution — the subject cannot announce another person's departure without claiming personal causal credit for outcomes in that person's domain. This is less a compliment to McAleenan than a self-citation using McAleenan's exit as occasion.

Schema revealed: Administration departures must be reframed as orderly and voluntary to protect the subject's image as a stable, successful manager — a schema under continuous pressure given the historically high Cabinet turnover rate.

Level 3: Narrative Identity

Protagonist role: The benevolent, effective executive who attracts talented people, gets results ('Border Crossings being way down'), and parts on good terms.

Narrative sequence: Contamination threat (chaotic departure during crisis) → neutralized via preemptive redemption framing (departure is clean, collegial, voluntary).

Identity claim: 'I am a results-oriented leader whose team achieves and who manages transitions gracefully.'

Level 4: Clinical Indicators

No acute clinical indicators present in this post. The grandiosity is subclinical and instrumental. No rage, no paranoid ideation, no dehumanization.

Defense Mechanisms

Rationalization (neurotic): The 'more time with family / private sector' formula imposes a logical, sympathetic narrative on a departure that available reporting suggests involved significant frustration with internal dysfunction.

Reaction formation (neurotic): Effusive praise functions as preemptive inoculation against any emerging 'chaos' or 'another firing' narrative.

Cognitive Status

No markers of word-finding difficulty, tangentiality, or perseveration. This post is more syntactically coherent than authentic Trump baseline, which itself is evidence of aide involvement rather than cognitive enhancement.

Danger Assessment

None. Routine departure announcement with no threat vectors.

Fact Verification

Claim	Verdict	Evidence
"Border Crossings being way down"	Mostly True	CBP data shows border encounters peaked at ~144,000 in May 2019 and fell significantly through summer-fall 2019, reaching ~45,000 by October 2019. However, causation is contested — agreements with Mexico and Guatemala and seasonal patterns contributed substantially alongside DHS enforcement priorities.
"Kevin McAleenan wants to spend more time with his family and go to the private sector"	Half True	McAleenan did resign voluntarily and did subsequently enter the private sector. However, reporting from multiple outlets indicated significant frustration with internal White House dynamics, policy conflicts, and the difficulty of the acting role — casting doubt on 'family time' as primary motivation.

Overall Veracity: 65%