The cult, mental illness, and the alternate reality.
I suppose KellyAnne Conway was sending us a message a couple of years ago when she tried to explain "alternative facts" to us? She was actually defining the new reality within the White House. The truth had no boundaries. They could color outside the lines. They could define reality in the best way to please their Leader.
But, after a while, their "alternative facts" ran head on into reality. There was chaos and confusion and disorder. Sarah Sanders tried to explain how FBI agents had called her and written emails to her to explain how they agreed with their Leader firing the FBI Director, James Comey. It fit nicely into their narrative and it pleased their dear Leader.
They lied to the people and they lied to themselves. They were driven to mental anguish in their desire to please their esteemed Leader. They knew what he wanted them to say without any directions and they proceeded to crawl deeper and deeper into the cave of their "alternative reality".
But they could only blow so much air into the balloon before it exploded in their faces. Their illusions have been shattered into tiny pieces. Lucky for them that it happened before the kool-aid was placed in front of them.
If they do escape the mental "prison" they entered, it will probably take months and months to recover from their experiences?
It is a classic cult.