Hope Hicks, Trump's fixer and media wrangler, is an SMU product. Robert Jeffress, Trump's evangelical water boy, is the pastor of First Baptist Dallas, and banker Andy Beal, Dallas' richest resident, is a key member of Trump's council of economic advisers.
Then there's Katrina Pierson. Pierson rose to prominence with the Tea Party in the late '00s, eventually working for Ted Cruz's 2012 Senate campaign and running against Pete Sessions in the Dallas representative's 2014 Republican primary win. Despite her penchant for saying things demonstrably untrue and appearing completely unhinged on television, Pierson secured a spot on Trump's campaign in late 2015, when she was named its national spokesperson.
Pierson has spent the last week or so flailing on cable news, attempting to respond to Trump's 2005 verbal admission of sexual assault and the women who have come forward subsequently to say Trump groped or kissed them without their consent. As Pierson ramps up the rhetoric, let's take a look at some of her most notorious moments.
1. Pierson dismissed sexual assault claims against Trump based on her extensive knowledge of 1970s airline fleets.
Jessica Leeds told The New York Times last week that Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt during a flight more than 30 years ago. She was only coming forward now, she said, because she was angry that Trump denied having ever physically assaulted women at last Sunday's presidential debate. Pierson told CNN's Don Lemon Wednesday that Leeds' claims had to be false because '70s commercial planes had fixed armrests in first class, something that's not just grimy, but untrue.THE AVIATION DEFENSE BY KATRINA PIERSON!!! pic.twitter.com/iKXEBY2dTW
— sam esfandiari (@samesfandiari) October 13, 2016
2. Pierson blamed Obama for Humayan Khan's 2004 death. — After deceased U.S. Army Captain Humayan Khan's parents denounced Trump at the Democratic National Convention, Pierson blamed Khan's death, which happened in Iraq in 2004, on President Obama's policies. Obama became president in 2009. His predecessor, George W. Bush, had yet to start his second term at the time Khan was killed.A woman on MSNBC is now lying and saying there were no operable armrests in first class in the 1970s. And yet: pic.twitter.com/WtEIQmE5xM
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) October 13, 2016
3. After Trump's comments about "grab[bing women] by the pussy," Pierson blamed "rape culture" on Hollywood and hip-hop music. And Hollywood, as you know, is full of godless liberals.
4. Pierson responded to questions about Trump's proposed ban on Muslims entering the country with "So what? They're Muslim." After taking heat from conservative commentator S.E. Cupp about her boss' plan to ban Muslims from entering the United States, a frustrated Pierson justified the ban by saying that the ban was "nothing new" and that people shouldn't care about the people being banned because those being kept out are Muslims.
5. Pierson went on CNN wearing a necklace made out of bullets. When she took heat for it on Twitter, Pierson said "Maybe I'll wear a fetus necklace next time."
6. Pierson blames President Obama for leading the U.S. into Afghanistan. Again, that happened under President Bush. In 2001.
7. After a near riot at a Trump rally in Chicago, Pierson blamed President Obama and Hillary Clinton for the violence. She cites the pair using the phrase "bringing a knife to a gun fight" which, when used, is always to be taken literally.
8. Pierson said Trump's comments about genital-grabbing were fine, because that's how men talk in locker rooms. She cites her own experience as an athlete, and that of her brothers.
9. Pierson echoed conspiracy theories that claim Clinton has severe health problems. According to Pierson, Clinton has something called "dysphasia."