# Post x_675418949547384832

- Post ID: `x_675418949547384832`
- Platform: X (Twitter)
- Posted: 2015-12-11T20:56:40.000Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/x_675418949547384832
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/x_675418949547384832/analysis
- Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/x_675418949547384832.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording)

## Post text

> Never get good #'s from failing Des Moines Register/Bloomberg. I think something's going on w/them. Up 13 in IA according to respected CNN.

## Engagement

- Likes: 2,808
- Reposts: 976
- Replies: 0
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-01-31T23:43:13.338Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-03-09T06:33:09.482Z (UTC): a model's reading of this post, not his words. Its psychological terms describe the language, not a clinical assessment of him._

## Summary

A brief reactive post dismissing unfavorable Iowa polling from Des Moines Register/Bloomberg while pivoting to a favorable CNN figure. The post encodes a textbook narcissistic injury response: the unfavorable measurement constitutes a comparative injury, triggering immediate denial of the source ("failing"), proto-conspiratorial attribution of corrupt motive ("something's going on w/them"), and rapid pivot to favorable alternative data to restore the grandiose self-image. Defense mechanisms present include pathological denial, delusional projection (conspiratorial implication without evidence), and splitting (pollster credibility determined solely by output favorability). The phrase "something's going on w/them" is a low-grade paranoid intrusion — deniable and campaign-plausible at this stage — that warrants longitudinal flagging as an early instance of what becomes a systematically escalating pattern of delegitimizing all unfavorable measurement instruments. Stylistically, this is authentic Trump: informal abbreviation, formulaic attack-imply-redirect structure, and the pre-formed "failing [outlet]" rhetorical module. The post contributes to epistemological groundwork — priming the audience to distrust sources that produce unfavorable measurements — that operates at low intensity in 2015 but scales significantly in subsequent years. No danger indicators are present. Clinically notable primarily as a well-preserved early specimen of the injury-response template that will recur thousands of times.

# Psychological Analysis: x_675418949547384832

## Post Overview

A brief reactive post dismissing unfavorable Iowa polling from the Des Moines Register/Bloomberg while pivoting to a favorable CNN figure. Despite its brevity, the post encodes several psychologically significant patterns that will become hallmarks of Trump's public communication style.

---

## Level 1: Dispositional Traits (Big Five)

**Neuroticism (High — Angry Hostility Facet):** The post is fundamentally a defensive reaction to perceived insult from polling data. The response is immediate, evaluative, and derogatory ("failing Des Moines Register/Bloomberg"), with no tolerance for data that challenges the preferred self-image.

**Agreeableness (Low):** Zero acknowledgment of alternative perspectives. Pollsters who report unfavorable numbers are not engaged on methodology — they are dismissed and implicitly accused of corruption.

**Conscientiousness (Low — Deliberation Facet):** The conspiratorial claim ("something's going on") is made without any supporting evidence. No deliberation, no qualification. The post reads as an immediate emotional discharge.

**Extraversion (Moderate — Assertiveness Facet):** The post is assertive and dominant in tone — the subject is not embarrassed or subdued by the unfavorable data, but immediately counter-punches.

---

## Level 2: Characteristic Adaptations

**Dominant Motive — Agency/Status:** The post is driven entirely by status protection. Iowa polling is instrumentally important (early caucus state), but the psychological valence here is not strategic calculation — it is wounded pride requiring immediate repair.

**Schema — Self:** The subject maintains a stable self-schema as a frontrunner and winner. Polling data contradicting this schema is not incorporated as new information; it is rejected as corrupted input.

**Schema — Others (Media/Pollsters):** Pollsters and media outlets are evaluated in real time based on their output: favorable → "respected"; unfavorable → "failing." This is a purely self-referential evaluative frame with no acknowledgment of independent methodological validity.

**Schema — World:** The world contains actors who are either with you or against you, with the possibility that against-you actors may be colluding ("something's going on"). This proto-conspiratorial schema is a stable feature, not a transient state.

---

## Level 3: Narrative Identity

**Protagonist Role:** The unjustly attacked frontrunner — leading by double digits in legitimate polls while corrupt/biased outlets attempt to undermine the true picture.

**Narrative Sequence — Contamination/Redemption Hybrid:** The unfavorable poll represents contamination (external threat to the winning narrative), but is immediately neutralized by the CNN figure, producing a truncated redemption arc within a single sentence.

**Identity Claims:**
- *"I am the real frontrunner in Iowa"* (implicitly asserted through CNN +13)
- *"I am the target of coordinated media/polling bias"* (conspiratorial undertone)

**Contrasting Other:** Des Moines Register and Bloomberg — legitimate, well-regarded polling operations — are cast as corrupt, failing institutions, repositioning the subject as the truth-teller against a dishonest establishment.

---

## Level 4: Clinical Indicators

### Narcissistic Injury Response (High Confidence)

This post presents a nearly pure-form narcissistic injury response:

1. **Injury:** Unfavorable poll data implies vulnerability/potential defeat in Iowa
2. **Defense — Denial:** Reject the source entirely ("never get good numbers")
3. **Defense — Delusional Projection:** Attribute conspiratorial motive without evidence ("something's going on w/them")
4. **Defense — Splitting:** Bifurcate pollsters into all-bad (DMR/Bloomberg) and all-good (CNN) based solely on output favorability
5. **Repair:** Anchor to favorable data, restoring grandiose self-image

### Paranoid Features (Mild, Early-Stage)

The phrase "I think something's going on w/them" is a low-grade paranoid intrusion — conspiracy suggested without commitment. This is an early data point in what the longitudinal record reveals to be an escalating pattern of paranoid attribution to measurement instruments that produce unfavorable results. At this stage (December 2015) it remains deniable and campaign-plausible rather than fixed and delusional.

### Malignant Narcissism Assessment

- **Narcissistic features:** Moderate-high (0.7) — grandiosity, entitlement, zero tolerance for negative comparative data
- **Antisocial features:** Low (0.2) — no direct harm, no rule violation
- **Paranoid features:** Moderate (0.5) — conspiratorial attribution present but mild
- **Sadism:** Absent (0.0)

---

## Defense Mechanisms

| Mechanism | Level | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Denial | Pathological | Wholesale rejection of DMR/Bloomberg data without methodological engagement |
| Delusional Projection | Pathological | "Something's going on w/them" — conspiratorial motive attributed without evidence |
| Splitting | Immature | "Failing" vs "respected" determined entirely by output favorability |

---

## Authorship Attribution

**Verdict: Authentic Trump (High Confidence, ~0.85)**

UTC 20:56:40 = 3:56 PM EST — business hours, which marginally favors aide authorship on timing alone. However, the stylistic fingerprint is overwhelmingly authentic: informal abbreviations ("w/them," "#'s"), unpolished conspiratorial implication without specifics, the formulaic attack-imply-redirect structure, and the contrastive "failing/respected" labeling that recurs throughout Trump's authentic posts. An aide would not plant the vague "something's going on" seed — too legally/reputationally deniable a move, but also too speculative and unpolished for professional communications staff.

---

## Rhetorical Analysis

**Cherry-Picking:** The post suppresses unfavorable polling while foregrounding a single favorable measurement — textbook confirmation bias weaponized for public persuasion.

**Conspiratorial Implication:** "I think something's going on w/them" does the maximum epistemological work with minimum commitment. The phrase plants the seed that DMR/Bloomberg are corrupt without making a falsifiable claim. This is the seed of what becomes, over subsequent years, a comprehensive alternate epistemology in which all unfavorable measurements are attributed to institutional conspiracy.

**Source Credibility Weaponization:** By attaching "respected" to CNN (only because CNN showed favorable numbers), the post implicitly establishes a rule: credibility tracks favorability to the subject. This primes the audience to distrust future unfavorable CNN polls should they emerge.

**Template Deployment:** "Failing [outlet]" is a pre-formed rhetorical module that appears across hundreds of Trump posts. Its application here to the Des Moines Register (a historically credible regional paper) is notable — no outlet is beyond the label if it produces unfavorable data.

---

## Gaslighting & Reality Distortion

Mild gaslighting present. The Des Moines Register's Iowa Poll is one of the most methodologically rigorous state polls in American political polling. Labeling it "failing" and implying corruption attacks a legitimate epistemic institution for the sole purpose of protecting the subject's preferred self-image. This is not yet systematic gaslighting at scale — that emerges more fully in 2016 and reaches full form in 2020 — but it is the same mechanism in nascent form.

---

## Fact Verification

| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|-------|---------|----------|
| "Up 13 in IA according to respected CNN" | **Unverifiable** | CNN did conduct Iowa polling in late 2015 and Trump did show substantial leads during this period. A +13 margin is within the range of polling figures from this era. However, the specific CNN Iowa poll showing exactly +13 cannot be confirmed from provided context. |
| "Des Moines Register/Bloomberg is 'failing'" | **False** | The Des Moines Register was a profitable, Pulitzer-winning regional newspaper at this time. Its Iowa Poll, conducted in partnership with Bloomberg, is considered one of the most methodologically rigorous early-state political polls in American political science. Describing it as 'failing' is a derogatory label applied for the purpose of dismissing unfavorable data, not an accurate characterization of the outlet's health or credibility. |

Overall Veracity: 25%

## Archetypal Analysis

**Warrior/Victim Hybrid:** The subject is simultaneously the frontrunner being targeted (victim) and the fighter who exposes the bias and still comes out ahead (warrior). The CNN figure at the end restores the **Hero/Winner** frame after the brief victim moment.

**Shadow Projection:** The "failing" label — applied to a successful media institution for not producing favorable outputs — may reflect projection of the subject's own fear of failure onto the threatening source.

---

## Order/Chaos Dynamics

**Order Attacker:** The post attacks a legitimate epistemic institution (Des Moines Register/Bloomberg polling) as corrupt, undermining the order of information-verification on which democratic decision-making depends. The subject positions himself as the truth-teller against a failing establishment.

**Grievance:** The grievance is clear — unfavorable comparative measurement — and the intensity is moderate (campaign-plausible). The blame falls on the measuring instruments rather than competitive factors.

---

## Danger Assessment

**Level: None**

No dehumanizing language, no violent imagery, no target identification, no eliminationist rhetoric. The post attacks institutional credibility, not persons. No danger indicators present.

---

## Longitudinal Context

Reading this post against the same-day cluster reveals a consistent pattern: Trump is in active media-management mode throughout December 11, 2015. He attacks Chuck Todd (hopeless, knows nothing), dismisses Morning Joe (waste of time), attacks Ted Cruz for private comments, promotes favorable Georgia polling, and now attacks Iowa pollsters. The pattern suggests a subject under elevated competitive stress — the Muslim ban proposal (just days earlier) generated bipartisan condemnation, and Iowa polling may reflect some backlash. The response is not introspection but reflexive externalizing attack on all critical or unfavorable sources. This is the ego-protective architecture functioning at full capacity.

The phrase "something's going on w/them" warrants longitudinal flagging. In December 2015 it is a throwaway line — campaign-season griping. Over the subsequent years it will harden into a systematic framework in which all unfavorable data is attributed to institutional conspiracy. The seed is here.

## Authorship Analysis

**Self-Written** (score: 85%)

### Indicators

- Informal abbreviations ('w/them', '#\\'s') consistent with authentic Trump style
- Stream-of-consciousness structure: attack → suspicion → counter-claim pivot
- Vague conspiratorial implication ('I think something\\'s going on') without elaboration — unpolished, reactive
- Contrastive labeling ('failing' vs 'respected') is a signature Trump rhetorical tic
- Absence of event announcements or polished formatting rules out aide authorship

## Psychological Profile

### State

**Mixed State**

**Trigger:** Narcissistic Injury — Comparison (Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Iowa poll showing unfavorable numbers relative to expectations)

Sentiment: -0.30

### Clinical

**Malignant Narcissism:**
- Narcissistic: 70%
- Antisocial: 20%
- Paranoid: 50%
- Sadism: 0%

**Defense Mechanisms:**
- denial (pathological)
- delusional projection (pathological)
- splitting (immature)

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

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- In-group/out-group framing: 'respected' CNN positions followers to distrust DMR while trusting Trump-favored sources
- Vague conspiratorial seed-planting without verifiable claim — deniable but effective in priming suspicion

## Danger Assessment

**NONE**

### Gaslighting

- Applies 'failing' label to Des Moines Register — a well-regarded, methodologically sound regional polling institution — solely because it produces unfavorable output, attacking legitimate epistemic infrastructure
- Implies corrupt motive ('something's going on w/them') without any evidentiary basis, priming audience to pre-reject future unfavorable measurements from those sources

## Fact Checks (2)

_The model's verdicts from 2026-03-09._

> Up 13 in IA according to respected CNN

**UNVERIFIABLE**

CNN did conduct Iowa polling in late 2015 and Trump did show substantial leads during this period. A +13 margin is within the range of polling figures from this era. However, the specific CNN Iowa poll showing exactly +13 cannot be confirmed from provided context.

Sources: Provided historian context (no specific Iowa CNN poll cited); General knowledge of 2015 Iowa polling landscape

> Des Moines Register/Bloomberg is 'failing'

**FALSE**

The Des Moines Register was a profitable, Pulitzer-winning regional newspaper at this time. Its Iowa Poll, conducted in partnership with Bloomberg, is considered one of the most methodologically rigorous early-state political polls in American political science. Describing it as 'failing' is a derogatory label applied for the purpose of dismissing unfavorable data, not an accurate characterization of the outlet's health or credibility.

Sources: General knowledge of Iowa Poll's historical reputation

Overall Veracity: 25%

## Tags

- narcissistic-injury-response (90%)
- proto-conspiracy (60%)
- splitting (80%)
- media-delegitimization (85%)
- cherry-picking (80%)
- source-credibility-weaponization (75%)
- iowa-2016 (70%)
- polling-attack (85%)
- authentic-trump (85%)
- longitudinal-flag-conspiracy-seed (70%)

## That day

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

**Under Siege Over Muslim Ban, Trump Deploys 22-Post Full-Spectrum Narcissistic Defense Blitz**

On December 11, 2015, Donald Trump executed a sustained 22-post defensive campaign across a nearly 23-hour window (8:10 PM to 6:50 PM EST), almost entirely organized around managing the psychic aftermath of bipartisan condemnation of his December 7 Muslim ban proposal. The day's output constitutes a clinical textbook of narcissistic injury-repair strategies: endorsement amplification (police union, Franklin Graham), false statistical weaponization (the debunked ISIS/British Army claim, posted twice), poll-flooding as counter-narrative (five separate favorable poll citations), preemptive rival neutralization (Ted Cruz), and escalating personal attacks on establishment Republican critics (Tom Ridge, Karl Rove). The posting pattern reveals a subject operating under significant psychological pressure who nonetheless maintains tactical coherence and message discipline throughout.

The day's most clinically and socially significant content is the twice-posted false claim that more British Muslims join ISIS than the British Army (posts x_675123192864899072 and x_675123192864899100), which meets stochastic terrorism criteria by naming a target population, attributing collective disloyalty via fabricated statistics, and leaving violent implications for the audience to complete. This content, combined with the Franklin Graham religious-nationalist endorsement amplification, represents the day's peak danger output. The subject's cognitive functioning remained fully within the 2015 baseline throughout, with no markers of decline — this was a strategically coherent, psychologically motivated defensive operation, not a disorganized episode. Sleep deprivation is likely, with only a roughly five-hour window between the last post at 1:21 AM and first morning post at 6:34 AM EST, potentially contributing to the elevated posting volume and the morning rapid-fire cluster of five posts in nineteen minutes.

Full digest for 2015-12-11: https://trump.fm/date/2015-12-11/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2015, December 11). Never get good #'s from failing Des Moines... [Social media post]. X (Twitter). trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/x_675418949547384832
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "Never get good #'s from failing Des Moines..." X (Twitter), 11 Dec. 2015. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/x_675418949547384832. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "Never get good #'s from failing Des Moines...," X (Twitter), December 11, 2015, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/x_675418949547384832.

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