This week, the President of the United States tried to gaslight a journalist into lying for him. On live television. About a Supreme Court ruling. That the president is defying. And somehow the most shocking part was that it all felt so… tediously on brand.
It happened during Trump’s first “100 days” interview since he retook the Oval Office like a fetid raccoon breaking back into your attic. ABC News sent veteran reporter Terry Moran to ask what were, honestly, very reasonable questions. Things like: Why are you defying the Supreme Court? Why is an innocent man in a foreign prison on American taxpayers’ dime? What even is reality?
Trump responded with what can only be described as a performance from the Tony-Award-winning Broadway production of Gaslight Grandpa: The Musical. Except instead of songs, he brought a bad Photoshop, a fake and deeply racist “gang” narrative, and the psychological manipulation style of a malignant narcissist daddy who ruins every family birthday but his own.
But this wasn’t just another lie. Or deflection. Or tantrum. This was something more sinister. It was a textbook case of DARVO—a tactic used by narcissists, sociopaths and other abusers when their lies hit a wall.
First, though? Who Is Kilmar Abrego Garcia?
Let’s start with the man at the center of this mess:
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a legal U.S. resident.
He has a family. A job. Pays taxes. He lives in Maryland.
When he first got to the US, a judge ruled that deporting him to the nation of his birth (El Salvador) would be illegal and life-threatening.
Trump deported him there anyway, with no due process, like the racist sadist he is.
Garcia is now locked up in one of El Salvador’s mega-prisons, where torture and abuse are the norm. The man had no hearing. No lawyer. No trial. Just violence, humiliation, and hell. Because Trump and his insane neonazi posse felt like it.
The Supreme Court—unanimously, including Trump’s own justices—told the administration to bring him back. This Supreme Court, people. The most Maga SCOTUS, ever. And even they were, like, “Dude, you have to follow the law.”
Trump’s response?
"I could. But I won’t."
Oh.
And here’s the kicker: the only “evidence” ever offered to justify this man’s imprisonment was that he had tattoos. Not gang tattoos. Just… ink on skin. That’s it. By this standard, every elite preschooler’s mom in Austin would also be in a Salvadoran gang.
Quick Detour to Stephen Miller’s Haunted Dollhouse
Even before the ABC interview aired, Trump’s favorite hairless lapdog Stephen Miller was already out doing press rounds, claiming—with full jaw tension—that the Supreme Court had ruled unanimously in Trump’s favor.
Spoiler: they hadn’t.
They ruled against him. Unanimously. In writing. On record. With footnotes. It was LITERALLY the fucking opposite of what Miller said on Fox News, over and over and over.
But that’s the Josef Geobbels playbook, innit?
Lie early.
Lie big.
And when someone tells the truth?
DARVO their ass on national television.
Which brings us to…
The Interview That Should’ve Set Off Air Raid Sirens
Moran asked why Trump was ignoring a Supreme Court ruling. You know, creating a literal constitutional crisis.
Trump said Kilmar had gang tattoos.
Moran, probably already regretting every career choice he’s made since high school, replied: He doesn’t.
So Trump held up a badly photoshopped image of gang tattoos on Kilmar’s hands. A graphic so fake it looked like it had been edited on a Nintendo DS. If this image had a scent, it would be Axe body spray and printer ink.
Moran, god bless him, didn’t blink:
"That image is fake."
Trump, switching into that icy tone every eldest daughter of an authoritarian father knows too well:
"I chose you for this interview." "I’d never heard of you." "Why can’t you just say yes?"
You know, DARVO.
Wait—What Is DARVO?
DARVO is an acronym. It stands for:
Deny
Attack
Reverse Victim and Offender
It’s a manipulation tactic used by narcissists, authoritarians, cult leaders, and your aunt’s detestable second husband with the vape business.
You confront them with a fact? They:
Deny it ever happened.
Attack you for asking.
Recast themselves as the real victim in the exchange.
And Trump hit every note with the precision of a man who’s been DARVOing since kindergarten.
Deny: “He has gang tattoos.” (He doesn’t.) Attack: “I’d never heard of you.” (You’re beneath me.) Reverse: “Why can’t you just say yes?” (I’m the one under siege here.)
This Was Not a Conversation. It Was a Test.
Trump wasn’t debating. He wasn’t persuading. He was testing.
Would the journalist play along? Would he validate the lie? Would he become an accomplice?
That’s the point of DARVO: to pressure others into performing reality with you. If one more person agrees, then maybe it’s true. If the reporter says yes, then the nation hears it as fact.
But Moran didn’t say yes.
And that resistance? That moment? That’s when the mask slipped and the world saw DARVO in action. Most narcissists know better than to be so brazen about it. But Trump is either too far gone with dementia to censor himself anymore, or too comfortable with being a dictator to care.
Either way, we’re screwed.
Some of Us Saw a Dictator. Others Saw Bedtime.
Here’s where it gets painful:
Some of us watched that moment and felt dread. We saw the tactic. We felt the trap. We recognized the creepy stillness of the room, like every holiday dinner that went sideways after someone said, "How can you just sit there blatantly lying to everyone like a psycho?"
But some people didn’t.
Some people watched that exchange and thought the reporter was the problem. Even if the president was lying.
Too defiant. Too disrespectful. Too unwilling to protect Daddy's feelings.
Because if you were raised by someone who DARVO’d the hell out of you, what Trump did didn’t feel like manipulation.
It felt like family obligation.
The Reporter Said No
And that matters.
Because Trump wasn’t just trying to lie to us. He was trying to make someone else do it with him, the way state-run propaganda outfit Fox News always does. So the lie could wear a second face. So it could march out of that room in a little suit and tie and shake hands with America.
But Moran didn’t give him that.
He said no. He told the truth.
And for everyone who’s ever had to choose between truth and survival, between keeping the peace and keeping your soul—that was the moment.
If you felt your chest tighten? You’re not alone.
And if you thought, “Why couldn’t he just say yes?”—you might want to ask yourself why that extremely rapey line sounds so familiar.
Because the only way to heal from DARVO is to name it. And the only cure for gaslight is daylight.
And this time?
Someone turned on the damn lights.
Thank you, Terry Moran.
Watch the exchange here:
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Superb writing, thank you! You capture what it feels like to grow up in house run by a gaslighting narcissist. While I am by far the only woman who has experienced similar familial-abusive situations to those you have described I am so inspired by your words. I’m not alone! Others have experienced similar general nuttiness and lived through it; I can too! Thanks for helping me find my courage. It’s so important in these times.
Terrifying