Biographer: Trump Sees Staffers as Either ‘Loyal to What He is Saying Right Now’ or a Traitor

In a New York Times article published on Saturday, Trump biographer Gwenda Blair explained Trump’s way of branding people traitors if they don’t agree with what he is saying right now.

From the Times:

Mr. Trump looks for people who share his disregard for the truth and are willing to parrot him, “even if it’s a lie, even if they know it’s a lie, and even if he said the opposite the day before,” said Gwenda Blair, a Trump biographer. They must be “loyal to what he is saying right now,” she said, or he sees them as “a traitor.”

The Times report also notes that Blair’s claim is backed by evidence of staffers clearly parroting things that were not true for their audience of one in the Oval Office.

For White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, for example, that included his much-panned crowd size claims.

For Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who took Spicer’s place, it meant a continual debate with the press about the White House version of events at the expense of her own credibility.

The Times report also noted Trump’s culture of lies and loyalty — which likely faced few consequences when he was in New York City in private life — is facing a huge test under the scrutiny of the Mueller probe.

Just this week, one-time Trump fixer Michael Cohen entered into a plea deal for lying in front of Congress and according to the Times, it is not over yet.

“Where all this is headed is unclear, but it appears that more allegations of lying are ahead,” the Times reports. “The Senate Intelligence Committee, which has also been investigating Russia’s interference in the election, has referred other cases to the special counsel’s office involving witnesses who may have lied.”

Read the full NYT report here.

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