Ex Trump Press Secretary Says His Base Would Rather Believe ANY Conspiracy Than Realize He’s a ‘Fraud’ Who Doesn’t Care About America

A former press secretary to Donald Trump said on CNN Sunday that the ex-president knows he’s telling lies when he floats conspiracy theories, but does it anyway because he also knows his base will believe anything he says. And that he used to tell her as much when she was working for him.

Stephanie Grisham appeared on CNN Newsroom Sunday and spoke with Jim Acosta about Trump floating conspiracy theories about the FBI being behind the January 6 attack, and a recent poll which showed about a third of Republicans believe that.

Acosta asked Grisham what she thinks about that stat, and she said that for Trump voters it’s “easier” to believe conspiracy theories than come to terms with who Trump really is.

“I think that people just would rather believe these conspiracy theories rather than admit that they were wrong about this person,” she said.

Acosta then asked whether Trump is a “crackpot” who believes these things or instead “does he know he’s lying?”

Grisham said he not only knows he’s lying, but he knows his base will believe anything he tells them, and that he used to tell her to lie to the press because “people will believe it.”

But she also suggested his January 6 conspiracy theories will hurt him in the general election.

GRISHAM: I think that when you believe in somebody so much, when you believe in somebody like Donald Trump. And I can speak to this because I actually did believe in him for a very long time. I think that when you put it all on the line and believe in somebody, I think it’s easier then to just want to believe that the FBI, that law enforcement, that the people who go to help us when we’re in trouble would be behind something, rather than admitting that the person you’ve been backing for years and years is a fraud and actually doesn’t care about the American people or our country.

I say that just from personal experience. It was really hard for me to come to terms with who he was because I really believed in him, his policies and the person I thought he was. So that’s what I think. I think that people just would rather believe these conspiracy theories rather than admit that they were wrong about this person.

ACOSTA: Yeah. And, Stephanie, I mean, you were around him so much. I mean, based on your experience when he peddles this stuff, does he know he’s lying? Does he convince himself that the lie is true? Is he just a kind of a crackpot who believes in conspiracy theories? And so he thinks what he’s saying is true. Which is it? Do we know what it is?

GRISHAM: Well, he’s not a crackpot. He’s actually a very smart man. I mean, he was president of the United States, so we have to give him a modicum of credit for that. But no, he knows he’s lying. He used to tell me when I was press secretary, go out there and say this, and if it was false, he would say, ‘it doesn’t matter, Stephanie. Just say it over and over and over again. People will believe it.’

He knows his base, believes in him. He knows he can basically say anything and his base will believe what he’s saying now. I think this will help propel him into the general. But I think that independents and, you know, center-leaning Republicans are not going to be buying this. They’re much, much smarter than that. And so I think that he’s going to get in trouble in the general with this kind of, uh, these kind of lies.

ACOSTA: So when he says that, oh, the FBI, Antifa, that kind of stuff, you think he he knows he’s lying.

GRISHAM: I know he knows he’s lying. I mean, I, you know, was with him nonstop for six years. He knows all he has to do is continue to say thing, and people — say these things and people will believe him.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.