# Post x_875690204564258816

- Post ID: `x_875690204564258816`
- Platform: X (Twitter)
- Posted: 2017-06-16T12:23:08.000Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/x_875690204564258816
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/x_875690204564258816/analysis
- Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/x_875690204564258816.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording)

## Post text

> The Fake News Media hates when I use what has turned out to be my very powerful Social Media - over 100 million people! I can go around them

## Engagement

- Likes: 135,395
- Reposts: 29,017
- Replies: 0
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-01-31T23:43:13.389Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-03-11T15:01:31.233Z (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 exemplifies Trump's characteristic compensatory grandiosity under threat. With the Mueller investigation expanding to obstruction of justice, Trump pivots entirely away from the legal crisis to assert dominance in the media narrative space. The psychological function is transparent: convert a position of vulnerability (subject of federal investigation) into one of power (commander of 100 million followers who can bypass institutional checks). The "Fake News Media hates" framing performs double duty—it delegitimizes critical coverage while providing narcissistic supply through the implication that powerful institutions fear him. The epistemic closure dimension is notable: this rhetoric trains followers to view all institutional media as adversarial, creating an information environment where only Trump's direct communications are trusted. This is a maintenance-level post in the ongoing campaign to establish social media as an alternative epistemic authority.

## Psychological Analysis: "The Fake News Media hates when I use..." (June 16, 2017)

### Context
Posted at 8:23 AM EDT (Trump was based in Washington, D.C. during this period). This falls in early morning hours—consistent with authentic Trump posting patterns. The Mueller investigation had just expanded to include obstruction of justice, and Trump was in a sustained defensive posture regarding the Russia probe.

### Authorship
Early morning, informal style, stream-of-consciousness, boastful tone, no links or event announcements. High confidence this is authentic Trump.

### Psychological Analysis
This post is a textbook example of **narcissistic supply maintenance through grandiosity** combined with **paranoid framing**. The core narrative: powerful enemies ("Fake News Media") are threatened by his unique ability to communicate directly with followers. The "over 100 million people" claim inflates his reach (combined Twitter/Facebook followers were roughly in that range but engagement was far lower). "I can go around them" reveals the core motive: **autonomy and control** over narrative.

The post functions as a **counter-narcissistic-injury** response to the expanding Mueller probe. Rather than address the investigation directly (as in the adjacent "Sad!" post), this post reasserts dominance by reframing the battlefield: the real conflict isn't legal jeopardy but media control.

### Defense Mechanisms
- **Grandiosity** as compensation for threat
- **Externalization**: problems attributed to hostile media, not own conduct
- **Denial by omission**: no acknowledgment of the actual crisis (obstruction probe)

### Rhetorical Techniques
The post uses classic **populist disintermediation rhetoric**—positioning himself as having a direct, unmediated connection with "the people" that bypasses corrupt institutional gatekeepers.

## Fact Verification

| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|-------|---------|----------|
| "Over 100 million people on social media" | **Mostly True** | Combined Twitter (~32M) and Facebook (~23M) followers at the time were ~55M personal, but including @POTUS and campaign accounts could approach 100M with overlap. The claim is inflated but in the right order of magnitude. |

Overall Veracity: 80%

## Authorship Analysis

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

### Indicators

- Early morning posting (8:23 AM EDT)
- Informal stream-of-consciousness style
- Self-aggrandizing tone
- No links or scheduling markers
- Characteristic boastful cadence

## Psychological Profile

### State

**Grandiose State**

**Trigger:** Narcissistic Injury — Exposure (Mueller obstruction probe expansion / sustained media criticism)

Sentiment: +0.30

**Mildly Hypomanic**
- Grandiose self-assessment of social media power
- Expansive, triumphant tone despite mounting legal pressure

### Clinical

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

**Defense Mechanisms:**
- distortion (pathological)
- projection (immature)
- denial (pathological)

**Cognitive Complexity:**
- Complexity: 30%

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- Direct address implying shared struggle against media
- Quantifying follower count as social proof
- Framing social media as weapon against shared enemy

## Danger Assessment

**NONE**

### Gaslighting

- Blanket delegitimization of mainstream media as 'Fake News'
- Framing critical coverage as emotional ('hates') rather than substantive

## Fact Checks (1)

_The model's verdicts from 2026-03-11._

> Over 100 million people on social media

**MOSTLY TRUE**

Combined Twitter (~32M) and Facebook (~23M) followers at the time were ~55M personal, but including @POTUS and campaign accounts could approach 100M with overlap. The claim is inflated but in the right order of magnitude.

Overall Veracity: 80%

## Tags

- media-antagonism (90%)
- social-media-power (80%)
- epistemic-closure (70%)
- compensatory-grandiosity (70%)
- populist-disintermediation (80%)

## That day

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

**Mueller Obstruction Probe Triggers Morning Rage Spiral and Inadvertent Self-Incrimination**

The day was dominated by Trump's reaction to news that the Mueller investigation had expanded to include obstruction of justice. A rapid-fire morning burst of posts cycled between defensive denial and aggrieved victimhood, culminating in an emotionally impulsive tweet that inadvertently confirmed the obstruction probe before official sources did. He also falsely attributed the Comey firing decision to Rod Rosenstein, contradicting his own prior public statements. The rest of the day was quieter, bookended by staff-authored posts about a Wisconsin workforce event and a Cuba policy speech delivered in Miami.

Full digest for 2017-06-16: https://trump.fm/date/2017-06-16/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2017, June 16). The Fake News Media hates when I use what has... [Social media post]. X (Twitter). trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/x_875690204564258816
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "The Fake News Media hates when I use what has turned out to..." X (Twitter), 16 Jun. 2017. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/x_875690204564258816. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "The Fake News Media hates when I use what has turned out to...," X (Twitter), June 16, 2017, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/x_875690204564258816.

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