Analysis: Wow, great news! I hear @EWErickson of Red State was fired l...

10y ago Oct 8, 2015 at 3:57 PM

Wow, great news! I hear @EWErickson of Red State was fired like a dog. If you read his tweets, you'll understand why. Just doesn't have IT!

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AI Analysis

Machine-generated analysis of the post above on 2026-03-07. Not written by the author of the post.

Danger Level

None

Narcissistic State

Grandiose

Authorship

Self-Written

Intensity

68%

This post represents a delayed narcissistic rage discharge following Erick Erickson's August 2015 public disinvitation of Trump from the RedState Gathering — a significant humiliation by a conservative media gatekeeper. Two months later, Trump learns of Erickson's departure from RedState and immediately weaponizes it as retrospective validation of his superiority. Clinically salient features include ego-syntonic sadism: delight in an adversary's professional misfortune is openly endorsed ("Wow, great news!") with zero ambivalence or performative restraint. This is cold triumphant narcissistic rage (Kohut 1972) — the injury was stored and discharged with relish upon opportunity. The same-day pattern (two prior posts targeting Glenn Beck, now Erickson) reveals systematic conservative media gatekeeper elimination rather than opportunistic venting. Defense mechanisms include splitting (Erickson rendered wholly incompetent), acting out (public retaliatory discharge), and rationalization ("read his tweets"). The dehumanizing simile "fired like a dog" is rhetorically characteristic. Fact-check: Erickson's departure from RedState is documented but the "fired" framing is contested; "I hear" signals unverified sourcing. Authorship: confidently authentic Trump. Danger level: none. This post is valuable as a 2015 behavioral baseline demonstrating that cold narcissistic rage, ego-syntonic sadism, and gatekeeper elimination are fully formed features at the campaign's earliest stage.

Authorship Analysis

Self-Written

Indicators:

Exclamatory opener 'Wow' — characteristic Trump affect marker
Dehumanizing simile 'fired like a dog' — recurring Trump idiom across multiple posts and years
ALL CAPS emphasis on 'IT' — signature Trump typographic device
Three-beat staccato declarative structure — consistent with stream-of-consciousness style
Hedging qualifier 'I hear' — Trump's characteristic plausible deniability framing for unverified claims

Psychological Profile

▶ State

Grandiose State

Trigger: Narcissistic Injury — Criticism (Erick Erickson / RedState)

Rage: Intensity 65% targeting Erick Erickson (@EWErickson)

Proportionality

20%

Sentiment

+0.60

▶ Clinical

Malignant Narcissism:

Narcissistic

82%

Antisocial

45%

Paranoid

55%

Sadism

75%

Defense Mechanisms:

splittingacting outrationalization

Cognitive Complexity:

Complexity

25%

Cognitive Markers:

perseveration

Parasocial Techniques:

Invites followers to share in schadenfreude as community bonding ritualDeputizes audience as validators ('If you read his tweets, you'll understand why')Signals to followers that Trump's enemies face consequences — loyalty reinforcement

Rhetorical Analysis

Dehumanizing Language Present

Fact Checks (3)

"Erick Erickson of Red State was fired"

Half True

Erickson did depart RedState in 2015 and founded The Resurgent. However, the characterization as 'fired' is contested — accounts range from voluntary departure to editorial pressure to mutual separation. Trump's own hedge ('I hear') signals secondhand, unverified sourcing. The departure is real; the 'fired' framing is self-servingly chosen.

"Reading Erickson's tweets explains why he was fired"

Unverifiable

Rhetorical claim designed to invite confirmation bias; no causal link established between tweet content and employment status.

"Erickson 'Just doesn't have IT'"

Unverifiable

Undefined subjective quality; not a falsifiable factual claim.

Receipts

No contradictions with other posts detected yet.

Analysis: Trump on Erick Erickson's Firing — October 8, 2015

Authorship Attribution

This post is confidently assessed as authentic Trump. The exclamatory opener ("Wow"), the dehumanizing simile "fired like a dog" (a recurring Trump idiom across multiple posts and years), the ALL CAPS emphasis on "IT," and the stream-of-consciousness three-beat structure are all hallmarks of unmediated Trump composition. The hedging "I hear" reflects his characteristic plausible-deniability framing when forwarding unverified claims. The UTC timestamp (15:57) corresponds to ~08:57 PDT if Trump was in Las Vegas (documented rally that day) — an early-morning emotionally charged post — or ~11:57 EDT if in New York, still within plausible daytime impulsive posting range.

Psychological State & Trigger

This post is a delayed narcissistic rage discharge. In August 2015, Erick Erickson publicly disinvited Trump from the RedState Gathering following Trump's Megyn Kelly "blood" remarks — a significant public humiliation by a conservative media gatekeeper. Two months later, upon learning of Erickson's departure from RedState, Trump immediately weaponizes the news as retrospective validation of his own superiority. The pleasure is ego-syntonic: it is displayed openly, with no social performance of restraint or magnanimity ("Wow, great news!").

This is cold, triumphant narcissistic rage (Kohut, 1972) — distinct from hot disorganized rage. The injury was stored, and discharged with relish when opportunity arrived. The same-day pattern (two prior posts attacking Glenn Beck, now Erickson) reveals this is not opportunistic but systematic gatekeeper elimination: Trump is restructuring the conservative media hierarchy by publicly delegitimizing its arbiters and replacing their authority with his direct-to-audience channel.

Defense Mechanisms

Splitting (immature): Erickson is rendered wholly incompetent ("doesn't have IT"); no complexity admitted.
Acting out (immature): Hostility toward a past aggressor discharged directly in public forum without processing.
Rationalization (neurotic): "If you read his tweets, you'll understand why" — retroactive justification framing Trump's satisfaction as evidence-based rather than retaliatory.

Rhetorical Techniques

Dehumanizing simile: "fired like a dog" reduces professional dismissal to an animalized, degrading image.
Vague ineffability: "Just doesn't have IT!" — undefined quality makes Trump the arbiter of an unfalsifiable standard, reinforcing his mystique.
Epistemic deputization: "If you read his tweets, you'll understand why" — followers invited to confirm rather than evaluate.
Schadenfreude amplification: "Wow, great news!" normalizes public celebration of rivals' suffering and invites followers into shared pleasure.
Plausible deniability hedge: "I hear" signals secondhand sourcing while still broadcasting potentially inaccurate framing ("fired").

Archetypal & Narrative Analysis

Trump operates in King-descending-to-Tyrant mode. Erickson cast him out (contamination event); now Erickson is himself expelled. Narrative symmetry is achieved and publicly celebrated. The shadow projection is notable: "doesn't have IT" is precisely the anxiety Trump's compensatory grandiosity suggests he harbors about himself — the fear of being exposed as lacking essential merit. The post functions as a mythological return of the humiliated king.

Fact Verification

Claim	Verdict	Evidence
"Erick Erickson of Red State was fired"	Half True	Erickson did depart RedState in 2015 and founded The Resurgent. However, the characterization as 'fired' is contested — accounts range from voluntary departure to editorial pressure to mutual separation. Trump's own hedge ('I hear') signals secondhand, unverified sourcing. The departure is real; the 'fired' framing is self-servingly chosen.
"Reading Erickson's tweets explains why he was fired"	Unverifiable	Rhetorical claim designed to invite confirmation bias; no causal link established between tweet content and employment status.
"Erickson 'Just doesn't have IT'"	Unverifiable	Undefined subjective quality; not a falsifiable factual claim.

Overall Veracity: 50%

Danger Assessment

None. No eliminationist language, no call to action, no violence imagery. The dehumanizing simile is within Trump's documented rhetorical baseline for dismissal.

Longitudinal Note

This post establishes a critical 2015 behavioral baseline: cold triumphant narcissistic rage, ego-syntonic sadism, systematic rival destruction, and gatekeeper elimination are fully formed at the campaign's earliest stage. These patterns will recur with increasing frequency and target scale.