White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was questioned sharply by the media this morning on Donald Trump's lie that at least 5 million people cast illegal votes in the last election. Despite having no evidence for the claim and being the winner of the election, Spicer defended Trump's lies as best as he could.

Which is to say, not very well at all. The best he could muster was "He believes this is true."

While it must be a terrible job to defend a narcissistic man-baby who obsesses over his legitimacy for the Presidency on a daily basis, Spicer isn't just Trump's spokesman. He's the country's spokesman, and he owes us more than this.

This exchange sums things up well.

The lie is important, for sure. We have a serial liar in the White House and it's good to have the press pushing on that lie every opportunity they get. But there is a larger agenda in play, just as there was during Trump's campaign. Every lie he told shored up that rabid, hater base of his and fired them up. To do what Republicans are planning, they have to keep that base hungry and angry.

The agenda is different from the message. The agenda is to pass and enforce some kind of national Voter ID law on the nation. The agenda is to brutally round up immigrants and deport them in droves. They are using a nonsensical conspiracy theory to garner support for those actions.

So call out the lie, but don't forget the agenda. It's just as important.