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Former Trump spokesperson shares insight into how and why he lies
Why does Donald Trump shamelessly repeat the same transparent lies, over
and over again? People close to him have already told us the answer.
Aug. 23, 2024, 11:27 AM EDT

By Steve Benen

In April 2020, Stephanie Grisham stepped down as Donald Trump�s White House
press secretary. In August 2024, Grisham not only disavowed her former
boss, she also spoke at the Democratic National Convention, telling
attendees that the Republican nominee has �no empathy, no morals and no
fidelity to the truth.�

But there was another part of her remarks that stood out for me.

�[Trump] used to tell me, �It doesn�t matter what you say, Stephanie � say
it enough and people will believe you.� But it does matter � what you say
matters, and what you don�t say matters.�

At face value, the fact that Grisham was on the stage at all was
extraordinary. Not only is Trump�s former vice president withholding his
support for the Republican�s 2024 candidacy, and not only is Trump�s former
White House chief of staff condemning his former boss, but Trump�s former
White House press secretary and communications director appeared at the
Democratic convention and explained how and why the Republican lies.

But there was something familiar about what Grisham said during her
remarks.

As I noted in my new book, as Trump�s first year in the White House neared
an end, Billy Bush wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times. Bush was
not an especially notable public figure at the time, but in the infamous
�Access Hollywood� record, he was the one Trump bragged to about assaulting
women. (�When you�re a star, they let you do it,� the future president told
Bush. �You can do anything. Grab �em by the p---y.�)

In his 2017 op-ed, Bush reflected on what he�d learned about the then-
president and shared an anecdote about a conversation he�d had with Trump
about inflating the ratings of his reality-television program. Bush wrote
that Trump had told him privately, �People will just believe you. You just
tell them, and they believe you.�

Seven years later, Grisham said something eerily similar: �[Trump] used to
tell me, �It doesn�t matter what you say, Stephanie � say it enough and
people will believe you.��

In other words, what Trump privately told Billy Bush about his willingness
to lie is effectively identical to what Trump privately told his former
White House press secretary about his willingness to lie. It�s a
philosophy, for lack of a better word, rooted in the idea that fiction can
simply overpower fact through relentless and shameless repetition.

Why does the former president repeat transparent nonsense, over and over
again? People close to him have already told us the answer.