Autumn has arrived, and it is time to take stock of Donald Trump’s activity on Truth Social over the past three months. That is where he addresses humanity with his proclamations and fits of rage. So here are the figures—but first, brace yourself against a doorframe or something similar, or sit down safely in a chair with sturdy armrests.
According to Roll Call’s database, Trump published 2,455 posts on Truth Social in June, July and August—681 in June, 750 in July and 1,024 in August. His activity was therefore highest in August, when he posted roughly once every 44 minutes, around the clock.
Trump does not write all the posts himself. The figures show only the activity on his account, not how many times he personally tapped away at his phone. His most important aide is Natalie Harp, Trump’s personal assistant. According to several American media outlets, she drafts some of the texts with him as he dictates. She also finds images, videos and other people’s posts that can be shared. Harp is also the one who logs into the account and presses the send button once Trump has approved the content.
The tall blonde has been dubbed Trump’s “human printer.” Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, who has long been responsible for Trump’s social media operation, also regularly publishes posts in the president’s name.
Trump’s most frenzied day of the summer was Saturday, August 1. Between 12:32 and 3:47 p.m., he and his team published 40 messages, images and videos from the account. He began the spree by attacking his own hand-picked U.S. attorney in Washington, Jeanine Pirro. She had asked the court to dismiss a case against a man accused of slashing the lining of the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The documents indicated that the damage was probably caused by faulty installation, but Trump refused to accept the explanation.
“I am 100% opposed to Jeanine Pirro,” he wrote. “I don’t know what she was thinking.”
Then the posts came thick and fast. At 2:02 p.m., the most startling image appeared. It showed Trump with his eyes closed, kissing a golden figure of Christ on a crucifix. The American flag filled the background. The image was clearly AI-generated and appeared without any explanatory text.
The religious imagery revealed his self-image as a divinely chosen leader. He does not merely want to be a politician who defends Christian values, but a man with a special, almost physical relationship with Christ. Traditional American campaign propaganda is fond of showing politicians praying or attending church. But with this image, Trump placed himself within the Christian story of salvation. He is, quite simply, the man chosen by God to save America.
Over the next few minutes, Trump assumed a succession of new identities. In one image, his face merged with that of George Washington. Above the portrait were the words: “250 YEARS—IN GOD WE TRUST.” Trump and the founder of the republic were literally transformed into one and the same person.
Another image showed Trump as commander-in-chief during the American Civil War. Brandishing a rifle and shouting, he led his soldiers through a raging sea of flames. It looked like a mixture of historical painting and war movie, enhanced with video-game effects.
Then came an image of a young Trump in cadet uniform sitting opposite the 80-year-old version of himself. “Same Guy. Even more energy now!” it said. Another image announced that the president was “aging backwards.”
At 2:45 p.m., Elvis appeared. Trump had transformed himself into the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, dressed in an open-fronted white sequined jumpsuit with an American eagle across his chest, complete with an Elvis-style look and slicked-back hair. The image was both comical and revealing: here he presented himself as young, virile and adored.
The AI-generated images abolish every limitation that reality has imposed on him. They make him younger, slimmer and stronger, credit him with military exploits he never performed, and place him among America’s founders and religious figures.
Other images were, if anything, even more bizarre. In one, Trump stood at a military airfield surrounded by bodyguards and soldiers. Beside him was a grey alien in handcuffs. The president appeared to have arrested a creature from outer space. In another, a gigantic Trump face loomed over a small Greenlandic town as the president stretched his hand across the houses. “Hello, Greenland!” it said. Greenland appeared as a small and defenceless community under the gaze of the American president.
One map he posted showed Venezuela covered by the American flag and labelled the “51st State.” This was not merely a random online game, since Trump has already expressed a desire for American control over both Greenland and Venezuela. The AI images make his imperial fantasies visible.
The psychiatrist Henry Abraham belongs to International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. In April, he and a number of other doctors signed an appeal calling for Trump’s removal from office because they believed he was no longer mentally fit to serve.
Abraham is even more alarmed now. If a pilot displayed half the symptoms Trump displays, he would not be allowed to fly, he says. Nor would anyone allow a neurosurgeon in a similar condition to operate on a human brain. Yet the president of the United States can launch nuclear weapons, and his health is shrouded in secrecy. Abraham fears that Trump might use a nuclear weapon in a fit of anger, confusion or failing impulse control.
It is a serious warning, although no reliable diagnosis can be made on the basis of a torrent of idiotic social-media posts. Trump has not been diagnosed with dementia or any other cognitive disorder. Nor do we know what his doctors may have discovered.
But do we need a diagnosis to see the problem?
Trump’s speech is becoming increasingly disjointed. He confuses names, places and events. He appears to fall asleep during public meetings, yet repeatedly makes his own “sky-high” energy levels a subject of discussion. According to American media reports, several of his aides have described him as more unpredictable than before.
September has continued where August left off. On Sunday, September 6 alone, Trump and his team published at least 37 posts on Truth Social. Many were AI-generated fantasy images in which the president appeared as a historical hero, ruler of the cosmos, warlord or owner of American territory. One showed a map on which the word “Mexico” in New Mexico had been crossed out and replaced with “America.”
Next came an AI-generated video in which Trump himself walked over to a road sign, pasted the word “America” over “Mexico,” and began dancing to “Y.M.C.A.” Trump wrote that many people had suggested the name New America and that it would be far more beautiful and prestigious.
A few days ago, he published more than half a dozen new maps bearing the invented name. But even as president, he has no authority to rename an American state. New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has also pointed out that the name predates the United States itself.
Two of the darkest images showed Trump surrounded by enormous humanoid war robots. In one, he sat on a futuristic throne in a blazing industrial landscape. Beneath it were the words: “GIVE THEM NIGHTMARES.” Another image bore the message: “THEY WILL DREAM OF US FOREVER.”
Breathe out. We can relax now. And we’ll talk again later.“He is just getting worse and worse,” Abraham says.
