It unfolds like clockwork: the minute a right-wing operative is confronted with his/her behavior, s/he pulls a 180 and claims s/he is being defamed.
Fascists of yesteryear as well as today love pulling this stunt.
It happens every time Kellyanne Conway or anyone connected with Trump goes out in public. True to form, Conway tried it at the Harvard election post-morten when Clinton staffer Jennifer Palmieri hit her point blank with the precise nature of the Trump takeover.
Kellyanne just got so upset [a/k/a evinced outrage]! ““Do you think I ran a campaign where white supremacists had a platform? You’re going to look me in the face and tell me that?”
To her credit, Palmieri didn’t fall for it, but simply reiterated to Conway that, yes, that’s exactly what Conway had done.
As Charles Blow apostrophises in the Times: “Yes Kellyanne, that is exactly what you did and no amount of personal outrage about being called out on it is going to rewrite that history. Furthermore, everyone who sees you should say that to your face at every opportunity.”