Analysis: While the Fake News loves to talk about my so-called low app...

8y ago Dec 29, 2017 at 12:46 PM

While the Fake News loves to talk about my so-called low approval rating, @foxandfriends just showed that my rating on Dec. 28, 2017, was approximately the same as President Obama on Dec. 28, 2009, which was 47%...and this despite massive negative Trump coverage & Russia hoax!

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AI Analysis

Machine-generated analysis of the post above on 2026-03-13. Not written by the author of the post.

Danger Level

None

Narcissistic State

Mixed

Authorship

Self-Written

Intensity

45%

Posted at 07:46 EST from Mar-a-Lago, this authentic Trump tweet enacts a textbook narcissistic injury-repair sequence triggered by media coverage of his historically low approval ratings. The subject transitions within a single sentence from vulnerable self-positioning (persecuted by "Fake News") to grandiose recovery (claiming equivalence with Obama via a cherry-picked Rasmussen poll as aired on Fox & Friends). The Obama comparison is technically narrow — Rasmussen-to-Rasmussen it has some numerical basis, but the broader polling average showed Trump at ~37–39% versus Obama's ~49–50% in comparable periods, rendering the claim mostly false as presented. Defense mechanisms include pathological denial ("so-called low approval rating"), distortion (selective poll citation), rationalization (blaming "massive negative coverage"), and splitting (Fox = truth; all other media = Fake News). The reflexive "Russia hoax!" appendage is perseverative — appearing across multiple posts regardless of topical relevance, functioning as a conditioned grievance token. No cognitive deviation from 2017 baseline is evident; language is coherent and structurally intact though simple. Danger level is none. The post is clinically unremarkable as an isolated specimen but illustrates a durable regulatory pattern: Fox & Friends as morning narcissistic supply intake → Twitter as real-time broadcast to mass audience — a pipeline that would intensify throughout the presidency.

Authorship Analysis

Self-Written

Indicators:

07:46 EST — early morning, within documented Trump Twitter window
Direct Fox & Friends reference, consistent with morning viewing habit
Stream-of-consciousness run-on compound sentence
Ellipsis as breath/pause marker ('47%...and this despite')
Reflexive 'Russia hoax!' appended as perseverative grievance token

Psychological Profile

▶ State

Mixed State

Trigger: Narcissistic Injury — Comparison (Mainstream media coverage of historically low presidential approval ratings)

Rage: Intensity 35% targeting Mainstream media / 'Fake News'

Proportionality

30%

Sentiment

-0.25

▶ Clinical

Malignant Narcissism:

Narcissistic

75%

Antisocial

20%

Paranoid

45%

Sadism

10%

Defense Mechanisms:

denialdistortionrationalizationprojectionsplitting

Cognitive Complexity:

Complexity

100%

Cognitive Markers:

perseveration

Parasocial Techniques:

Inviting audience to share indignation at unfair media treatmentPositioning Fox & Friends as shared trusted source, reinforcing in-group identityFraming Russia investigation as collective hoax perpetrated against both subject and his supporters

Danger Assessment

None

Gaslighting Detected:

'so-called low approval rating' — attacking the validity of broad polling consensus as media fabrication
Framing Rasmussen cherry-pick as the definitive correction of 'Fake News' distortion
'Russia hoax' — characterizing an active federal investigation with documented outputs as manufactured

Reality Distortions:

Rasmussen outlier poll presented as equivalent to 'approval rating' without methodological context
Implicit claim that Fox & Friends is a more reliable polling arbiter than independent aggregators
Russia investigation characterized as 'hoax' despite documented indictments and guilty pleas already on record by December 2017

Fact Checks (4)

"Trump's approval rating on Dec. 28, 2017 was approximately 47%"

Half True

Rasmussen Reports daily tracking showed Trump at approximately 46% in late December 2017. However, the RealClearPolitics polling average showed Trump at approximately 37-39% at this time. The claim is narrowly true for one favorable outlier poll but misrepresents the broader polling consensus.

"Obama's approval rating on Dec. 28, 2009 was 47%"

Mostly True

Rasmussen showed Obama at approximately 46-48% in late December 2009. Gallup showed Obama at approximately 50% at this time. The specific 47% figure has plausibility depending on exact date and instrument used.

"The comparison holds 'despite massive negative Trump coverage'"

Half True

Studies of media coverage in 2017 (e.g., Harvard Shorenstein Center) did show substantially higher negative coverage of Trump than Obama. However, this is presented as exculpatory for a polling comparison that is itself misleading — the claim's framing implies equivalence that the data does not support.

"Russia investigation is a 'hoax'"

False

The Mueller investigation ultimately produced 37 indictments, 7 guilty pleas/convictions, and documented multiple contacts between Trump campaign associates and Russian nationals. Characterizing it as a 'hoax' is contradicted by the factual record of the investigation's outputs.

Receipts

No contradictions with other posts detected yet.

Psychological Analysis: x_946724075157651457 (2017-12-29)

Authorship Attribution

Verdict: Authentic Trump — High Confidence

Posted at 07:46 EST (Mar-a-Lago, Florida; UTC−5), this falls squarely in Trump's documented early-morning Twitter window. The post references Fox & Friends directly — the program he was known to watch prior to official daily duties, and which regularly triggered reactive posting. Stylistic fingerprints are abundant: the run-on compound grievance structure, ellipsis as breath mark ("47%...and this despite"), the tacked-on "Russia hoax!" as a reflexive grievance appendage, and "so-called" as rhetorical minimizer. No professional communications operative would craft something this nakedly self-reassuring or structurally informal.

Trigger Analysis

The precipitating trigger is a narcissistic injury: sustained media reporting on Trump's historically low approval ratings — at this point among the lowest for any first-year president in modern polling. The post opens in reactive posture ("While the Fake News loves to talk about..."), indicating the subject awoke already ruminating on this wound. Injury type is unfavorable comparison — to predecessors and to his own self-concept as a uniquely successful, admired president.

Narcissistic Dynamics

The post enacts a classic vulnerable → grandiose repair sequence within a single sentence:

Vulnerable phase: "so-called low approval rating," "massive negative Trump coverage" — self-positioning as persecuted victim of a dishonest press
Grandiose repair: The Obama equivalence maneuver — claiming approximate parity with a predecessor whose approval ratings were objectively better received by the same media — attempts to recapture status. The comparison simultaneously elevates the subject (matching Obama) and attacks the media's framing (if Obama's 47% was not "low," neither is mine)
Exculpatory appendage: "Russia hoax!" functions as a preemptive explanation for any residual shortfall — the subject is not underperforming; he is being sabotaged

The oscillation is textbook narcissistic regulation: wound → denial → compensatory elevation → blame externalization.

Defense Mechanisms

Denial (pathological): Characterizing well-documented, broad-consensus polling data as fabrication ("so-called low approval rating") — refusal to accept external reality
Distortion (pathological): Selecting a single favorable outlier poll (Rasmussen, as featured on Fox) and presenting it as representative of "approval ratings" broadly — grossly reshaping reality to meet inner needs
Rationalization (neurotic): Even granting a deficit, it is explained away by "massive negative coverage" — deflecting from performance to environment
Projection (immature): Media is accused of distortion and bias while the post itself executes precisely the selective citation it attributes to others
Splitting: Fox & Friends = valid truth-teller; all other media = "Fake News" — clean all-good/all-bad bifurcation

Rhetorical Analysis

False equivalence: The Rasmussen poll skews Republican by approximately 5–7 points relative to polling averages. Using it to claim parity with Obama's broader numbers is methodologically inconsistent; the comparison is valid only if the same instrument is applied to both subjects over time, which is not established here
Whataboutism: Obama is invoked not for policy relevance but purely as emotional deflection from the subject's own numbers
Appeal to partisan authority: Fox & Friends is cited as the arbiter of polling truth — an explicitly ideologically aligned outlet elevated above independent polling aggregators
Minimization: "so-called" delegitimizes the media framing before engaging the substance, priming the audience to discount the premise
DARVO (partial): Deny ("so-called"), Attack ("Fake News"), partial Reversal (subject is the real victim of "massive negative coverage")
Epistemic closure marker: Fox's coverage is treated as corrective revelation rather than one data point among many; other sources are axiomatically invalid

Fact Verification

Claim	Verdict	Evidence
"Trump's approval rating on Dec. 28, 2017 was approximately 47%"	Half True	Rasmussen Reports daily tracking showed Trump at approximately 46% in late December 2017. However, the RealClearPolitics polling average showed Trump at approximately 37-39% at this time. The claim is narrowly true for one favorable outlier poll but misrepresents the broader polling consensus.
"Obama's approval rating on Dec. 28, 2009 was 47%"	Mostly True	Rasmussen showed Obama at approximately 46-48% in late December 2009. Gallup showed Obama at approximately 50% at this time. The specific 47% figure has plausibility depending on exact date and instrument used.
"The comparison holds 'despite massive negative Trump coverage'"	Half True	Studies of media coverage in 2017 (e.g., Harvard Shorenstein Center) did show substantially higher negative coverage of Trump than Obama. However, this is presented as exculpatory for a polling comparison that is itself misleading — the claim's framing implies equivalence that the data does not support.
"Russia investigation is a 'hoax'"	False	The Mueller investigation ultimately produced 37 indictments, 7 guilty pleas/convictions, and documented multiple contacts between Trump campaign associates and Russian nationals. Characterizing it as a 'hoax' is contradicted by the factual record of the investigation's outputs.

Overall Veracity: 45%