# Post x_1317495725786353700

- Post ID: `x_1317495725786353700`
- Platform: X (Twitter)
- Posted: 2020-10-17T20:00:33.000Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/x_1317495725786353700
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/x_1317495725786353700/analysis
- Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/x_1317495725786353700.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording)

## Post text

> ....practically nothing. Both Senators became totally unelectable, couldn’t come even close to winning their primaries, and decided to drop out of politics and gracefully “RETIRE”. @SenSasse could be next, or perhaps the Republicans should find a new and more viable candidate?

## Engagement

- Likes: 0
- Reposts: 9,353
- Replies: 0
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-02-01T01:33:24.786Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-03-19T16:39:23.224Z (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 post is the climactic installment of a five-tweet punitive campaign against Sen. Ben Sasse, triggered by a leaked phone call. Psychologically, the sequence represents a textbook narcissistic injury response: devaluation of target, deployment of historical precedents as threats (Corker and Flake's destroyed approval ratings), and a closing implicit directive to Nebraska Republicans to replace Sasse. The grandiose narcissistic state is dominant — Trump presents as powerful kingmaker rather than wounded party — but the intensity of a five-tweet attack on a single senator during the final weeks of a presidential campaign reveals a vulnerable undercurrent. Sadistic features are evident in the "Little Ben" diminutive, the mocked scare-quotes around "RETIRE," and the theatrical faux-conciliation. Defense mechanisms include devaluation, projection (Sasse cast as opportunist), and rationalization (electoral destruction framed as natural consequence). Danger level is elevated: "could be next" / "Republicans should find a new candidate" mobilizes the base against Sasse, following the documented pattern that produced Corker and Flake's retirements. Stylistically and psychologically consistent with subject's established baseline — this represents maintenance of a documented behavioral pattern rather than escalation or deterioration.

# Psychological Analysis: Trump Post 2020-10-17 (x_1317495725786353700)

## Overview

This post is the climactic fifth installment of a sustained five-tweet punitive campaign against Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), triggered by a leaked phone call in which Sasse criticized Trump's handling of the presidency. The post functions as both a verdict (Sasse is on the path of Corker and Flake) and an implicit directive to Nebraska Republicans. It is analyzed here in context of the full thread.

---

## Authorship Attribution

**Assessment: High confidence authentic Trump (0.75)**

The 20:00 UTC timestamp converts to approximately 4:00 PM Eastern — business hours, the primary aide-consistent indicator. However, the stylistic evidence overwhelming favors authentic authorship:

- The ellipsis-continuation format (five consecutive tweets in a single thread) is almost exclusively an authentic Trump behavioral pattern; aides write standalone posts
- The "Little Ben" diminutive was coined mid-thread and carried forward, suggesting continuous emotional authorship
- Mocked scare-quotes around "RETIRE" with ALL-CAPS deployment
- The closing faux-conciliation ("just a wonderful guy!") is a recurring authentic Trump rhetorical tic
- The impulsive pivot — "or perhaps Republicans should find a new and more viable candidate?" — has the quality of a thought arriving in real time

The timing anomaly is insufficient to override the stylistic convergence.

**Location:** Mid-October 2020, Trump was on an aggressive campaign trail schedule. The events list places him at a Georgia rally (Macon) and Wisconsin (Janesville) in this period. On October 17, he was likely traveling or at the White House between events — Eastern timezone.

---

## Trigger and Psychological State

**Trigger: Narcissistic injury (criticism)**

Ben Sasse had participated in a constituent phone call in which he criticized Trump's conduct, character, and policy decisions. The call was leaked to media. This constitutes a direct, public criticism from within the loyalty hierarchy — the most activating injury type for this subject.

**State: Grandiose narcissism (dominant)**

Importantly, the grandiose pole is in control rather than the vulnerable pole. Trump does not present as wounded; he presents as a patron dispensing justice to a disloyal client. The five-tweet sequence is structured as a prosecutorial brief, not a defensive response. This is consistent with the subject's characteristic conversion of narcissistic injury into dominance display.

---

## Multi-Level Personality Analysis

### Level 1: Traits
- **Very low Agreeableness**: Sustained contempt, no acknowledgment of Sasse's valid concerns
- **High Extraversion (assertiveness facet)**: Dominant, public, escalating attack
- **Low Conscientiousness (deliberation)**: Impulsive multi-tweet attack three weeks before election, targeting own party senator
- **High Neuroticism (angry hostility facet)**: Five-tweet sequence for a single criticism suggests affective dysregulation

### Level 2: Characteristic Adaptations
- **Power motive** utterly dominant: The patron schema is explicit ("a State which I have gladly done so much to help")
- **Communion absent**: No attempt to persuade, reconcile, or engage with Sasse's actual criticisms
- **Self-schema**: Kingmaker whose favor is electoral life or death
- **Other-schema**: Republicans are clients whose loyalty is owed; disloyalty is category error requiring correction

### Level 3: Narrative Identity
- **Protagonist role**: Powerful patron dispensing political justice; the record-keeper who tracks loyalty
- **Narrative sequence**: Contamination — Sasse was "nice" (provisionally acceptable), then "went back to his stupid and obnoxious ways" after nomination secured (betrayal/contamination)
- **Identity claim**: "I determine who is electable. My approval = political survival."
- **Contrasting other**: Sasse as weak, transactional, inadequate — defined entirely through failure to maintain loyalty to patron

### Level 4: Clinical Indicators

**Malignant Narcissism Features:**
- *Narcissistic (0.85)*: Public humiliation campaign, entitlement to loyalty, grandiose kingmaker identity
- *Antisocial (0.65)*: Deliberate campaign to destroy colleague's political standing, no remorse, mobilization of followers as weapon
- *Paranoid (0.55)*: Criticism of patron = betrayal = enemy action requiring elimination
- *Ego-syntonic sadism (0.60)*: "Little Ben" diminutive, mocked "RETIRE," theatrical closing sarcasm ("just a wonderful guy!") — cruelty displayed as pleasure

---

## Defense Mechanisms

1. **Devaluation (immature)**: "Least effective of our 53 Republican Senators," "doesn't have what it takes," "stupid and obnoxious," "Little Ben" — comprehensive attack on competence, character, size (literal diminutive)

2. **Projection (immature)**: Sasse is cast as the cynical opportunist (nice until nomination secured, then revealed his true character). This precisely mirrors Trump's own documented transactional loyalty pattern — support withdrawn the moment perceived benefit evaporates.

3. **Rationalization (neurotic)**: Corker and Flake's political fates are presented as organic consequences of their inadequacy, not as outcomes of a coordinated retaliation campaign. This framing neutralizes moral accountability.

---

## Rhetorical Analysis

The post employs a classic **intimidation arc**:
1. Devalue the target (establish he is unworthy of the position)
2. Cite documented precedents (Corker, Flake) — this is simultaneously evidence of mechanism and threat
3. Issue implicit threat ("could be next")
4. Mobilize third parties as weapon ("perhaps Republicans should find a new and more viable candidate")

**Key rhetorical devices:**
- **Ad hominem** sustained throughout the thread
- **Scare quotes + ALL-CAPS** on "RETIRE" — contempt and mock
- **False cause**: Corker/Flake destroyed by their own inadequacy, not by targeted retaliation
- **Mobilization call framed as suggestion**: "Perhaps Republicans should find..." is a directive in the grammatical clothing of a reasonable proposal
- **Patron-citizen framing**: Nebraska voters are invoked as the implied audience for Trump's generosity ("a State which I have gladly done so much to help")

**No dehumanizing language or violent imagery** — the violence is entirely political and reputational.

---

## Gaslighting / Reality Distortion

- **DARVO**: Sasse (the critic) is framed as the aggressor, liability, and embarrassment; Trump (the attacker) is framed as aggrieved defender of party and state
- **Retroactive delegitimization**: Sasse's pre-primary cooperation is recharacterized as cynical RINO performance, denying legitimacy to the prior relationship
- **Destruction laundered as electoral consequence**: Corker and Flake "couldn't come close to winning their primaries" — both *chose not to run*; Trump presents inference as established fact to obscure the mechanism of their departure

---

## Danger Assessment: **ELEVATED**

- Explicit citation of prior political destruction (Corker, Flake) as cautionary examples targeting a named individual
- "Could be next" constitutes an implicit threat
- "Republicans should find a new candidate" is a mobilization call against a sitting senator from the same party
- Pattern is consistent with documented sequence producing the Corker and Flake outcomes
- No physical danger indicators; threat is entirely political-economic

---

## Fact Verification

| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|-------|---------|----------|
| "Corker's approval rating went from 55% to 4%" | **Half True** | A 2018 Vanderbilt/MTSU poll showed Corker's favorable rating among Tennessee Republicans at approximately 4% at the nadir of his feud with Trump. The 55% baseline tracks pre-feud polling. Numbers are real but cherry-picked from a partisan sub-sample low, not overall approval. |
| "Flake's approval went from 56% to practically nothing" | **Half True** | Flake's approval dropped significantly, reaching low-to-mid 20s overall by retirement. Implied near-zero figure likely references a Republican primary sub-sample. Starting figure of 56% is consistent with pre-feud standing. |
| "Both senators couldn't come even close to winning their primaries" | **Mostly False** | Neither Corker nor Flake ran in a primary. Both chose to retire. Flake faced a credible primary challenger; Corker had only prospective pressure. Trump presents counterfactual inference as established electoral fact. |

Overall Veracity: 40%

## Cognitive Status

Post is structurally coherent, internally logical within the patron-loyalty schema, and stylistically consistent with subject's documented baseline. Simple vocabulary, short sentences, no word-finding difficulty, no temporal confusion. Cognitively unremarkable; baseline deviation: none.

## Authorship Analysis

**Self-Written** (score: 75%)

### Indicators

- Ellipsis-continuation structure (fourth tweet in thread) is almost exclusively authentic Trump
- Deployment of 'Little Ben' diminutive coined earlier in same thread
- Mocking scare-quotes around 'RETIRE' with ALL-CAPS
- Conversational 'or perhaps' pivot mid-sentence
- Five-tweet sustained personal attack on single senator is emotionally driven, not strategic

## Psychological Profile

### State

**Grandiose State**

**Trigger:** Narcissistic Injury — Criticism (Sen. Ben Sasse (leaked phone call criticizing Trump))

**Rage:** Intensity 70% targeting Sen. Ben Sasse
- Proportionality: 15%

Sentiment: -0.78

### Clinical

**Malignant Narcissism:**
- Narcissistic: 85%
- Antisocial: 65%
- Paranoid: 55%
- Sadism: 60%

**Defense Mechanisms:**
- devaluation (immature)
- projection (immature)
- rationalization (neurotic)

**Cognitive Complexity:**
- Complexity: 38%

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- Patron-citizen framing ('a State which I have gladly done so much to help')
- Rhetorical invitation to audience to join punitive campaign ('Republicans should find a new candidate')
- Cautionary tale deployment to demonstrate power and enlist audience in intimidation

## Danger Assessment

**ELEVATED**

### Indicators

- Explicit reference to prior political destruction of Corker and Flake as cautionary examples
- 'Could be next' framing constitutes implicit threat to Sasse's political survival
- 'Republicans should find a new and more viable candidate' mobilizes base against sitting senator
- Pattern consistent with documented sequence that produced electoral threats against Corker and Flake

### Gaslighting

- DARVO: Sasse (critic) framed as aggressor and liability; Trump (attacker) framed as aggrieved defender of party
- Retroactive delegitimization of Sasse's pre-primary cooperation as cynical RINO performance
- Corker and Flake framed as self-destroyed through inadequacy, obscuring documented retaliation campaign mechanism

## Fact Checks (3)

_The model's verdicts from 2026-03-19._

> Corker's approval rating went from 55% to 4%

**HALF TRUE**

A 2018 Vanderbilt/MTSU poll showed Corker's favorable rating among Tennessee Republicans at approximately 4% at the nadir of his feud with Trump. The 55% baseline tracks pre-feud polling. Numbers are real but cherry-picked from a partisan sub-sample low, not overall approval.

Sources: Vanderbilt University polling 2018

> Flake's approval went from 56% to practically nothing

**HALF TRUE**

Flake's approval dropped significantly, reaching low-to-mid 20s overall by retirement. Implied near-zero figure likely references a Republican primary sub-sample. Starting figure of 56% is consistent with pre-feud standing.

Sources: Arizona polling 2017-2018

> Both senators couldn't come even close to winning their primaries

**MOSTLY FALSE**

Neither Corker nor Flake ran in a primary. Both chose to retire. Flake faced a credible primary challenger; Corker had only prospective pressure. Trump presents counterfactual inference as established electoral fact.

Overall Veracity: 40%

## Tags

- narcissistic_injury_response (90%)
- political_intimidation (85%)
- intraparty_retaliation (90%)
- devaluation_campaign (85%)
- patronage_schema (80%)
- sadistic_contempt (65%)
- implicit_threat (80%)
- malignant_narcissism_indicators (75%)

## That day

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

**Post-COVID Campaign Blitz: Rally Euphoria Gives Way to Five-Tweet Punitive Strike Against GOP Senator**

Trump barnstormed through Florida and Georgia with back-to-back evening rallies, staying up past 2 AM before a long sleep break. The afternoon brought a sustained, angry attack on Senator Ben Sasse after leaked audio surfaced of Sasse criticizing Trump -- four consecutive posts naming, shaming, and implicitly threatening the senator's political future. The day closed with a cluster of Biden attacks tied to the Hunter Biden laptop story, including labeling Biden a "national security threat." Overall mood was high-energy and combative, fueled by rally crowds and grievance in roughly equal measure.

Full digest for 2020-10-17: https://trump.fm/date/2020-10-17/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2020, October 17). ....practically nothing. Both Senators became... [Social media post]. X (Twitter). trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/x_1317495725786353700
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "....practically nothing. Both Senators became totally..." X (Twitter), 17 Oct. 2020. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/x_1317495725786353700. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "....practically nothing. Both Senators became totally...," X (Twitter), October 17, 2020, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/x_1317495725786353700.

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