Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer has become one of Donald Trump's most reliable reality-deniers. Here he is explaining that Trump's various conflicts of interest aren't a problem because Trump isn't being "shady" about them.
“You tell everyone, here’s what’s going on, here’s the process, here are the people that are playing a role, that’s being transparent. Conflicts of interest arise when you’re not — when you’re sneaky about it, when you’re shady about it, when you’re not transparent about it.”
The man who still hasn't released his taxes and who appears to think he can put his businesses in a "blind trust" managed by his own children then install those children themselves in his government is, according to Sean Spicer, purported real person, being "transparent." As in, it's not corruption if foreign lobbyists are giving Trump's hotel business cash in order to boost the chances Donald Trump will talk to them if everybody knows it's going on!
Bank robberies work the same way: Sneak in after dark and you've got a problem, but as long as you boldly enter during business hours and say "Hello, I am currently robbing this bank" there's not a thing they can do to stop you. It makes it all legal and transparent!
All right, here's a question for you readers. Who do you think is the biggest single liar on Trump's team? I had presumed Katrina Pierson, aka Bullet Necklace, was a shoe-in there but when it comes to basic reality denial there's some stiff competition. Kellyanne Conway has become a master of the how dare you point that out response, forever declaring how "offended" she is that someone is asking her about [that thing Trump's team was just caught doing]; Pierson's technique relies more heavily on word chaff, tossing up so many bizarre claims at once that the interviewer is left slackjawed, not sure quite where to even begin. (This is, incidentally, the same technique the octopus uses to confuse predators—if Pierson is ever cornered by a tiger shark she should have little to fear.)
But then there's Sean Spicer, and he's making a pretty good late break for the title. He doesn't dazzle you with false outrage or spray word-ink in your face in order to stage a quick getaway, he just takes a deep breath, looks you straight in the eye, and lies. By golly, he seems to be firmly in his element now. Like he's been waiting all his life for a man worthy of his own personal devotion to bullshit.