Grisham: Trump ‘knows he can basically say anything and his base will believe’

Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Sunday that former President Trump knew that his supporters were likely to believe “anything” he said, even if they knew it was false. He said he was there.

CNN's Jim Acosta asked Grisham on Sunday whether Trump is “just a weirdo who believes in conspiracy theories, so he thinks what he's saying is true?” Grisham pushed back on the question, explaining that he knows when President Trump is feeding his supporters misinformation.

“He's not a weirdo. He's actually a very smart guy. I mean, he was the President of the United States. We have to give them a little credit for that,” she told CNN Newsroom. ” he said.

“But no, he knows he's lying. When I was press secretary, he used to tell me, 'Go out and say this.' If that's a lie, he'll say, “That doesn't matter, Stephanie.” Just say it over and over again and 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 says,” she continued.

Grisham served as White House press secretary from July 2019 to April 2020. He later served as chief of staff to former first lady Melania Trump, before resigning on January 6, 2021, after a mob stormed the Capitol.

Since leaving the White House, she has been outspoken about her time in the Trump administration. She said on Sunday that Trump is likely to face difficulties in the general election if he continues to tell “lies” to his supporters.

“I think this will help propel him to general status, but independents and moderate-leaning Republicans are not going to support this,” Grisham said. “I think he's going to get into trouble in general with these kinds of lies because they're a lot smarter than that.”

He also noted that some of Trump's supporters find it easier to believe what Trump says because they have supported him for years.

“It was really hard for me to accept who he was because I truly believed in him, his policies, and who I thought he was. So I admit that people were wrong about this person. I think people would rather believe in these conspiracy theories than anything else,” she said.