You are right: truth and lawfulness doesn’t matter, this is not about consequences or fear thereof but it is about attention. So long as headspace is taken up by something that presents him in a negative light, less attention is spend on validation and this leads to perceived lack of admiration. I am unable think of anything this administration does that cannot be explained by traits that align with narcissistic personality disorder.

Love bombing is an idea that can be associated with cluster B personality pathology: as part of the idealisation / devaluation cycle or manipulation with borderline pd or narcissism pd. The people you’re describing here are teens so I wouldn’t look too much into it.

I find this monologue amazing as it reveals so much about someone with narcissistic personality only that the character has more self awareness than the typical narcissist.