James O’Keefe’s crony Ben Wetmore gave an interview to Esquire’s Marty Beckerman, and he says the attempted “seduction” of CNN reporter Abbie Boudreaux was all just a big joke.

ESQ: People are accusing you of misogyny and worse. What did you hope to achieve?

BW: It was humor. There was a joke to it — James isn’t a lothario of sexual conquest at all. It was going to be awkward, not sexually aggressive. It was meant to be outlandish and ridiculous. When you dissect and sterilize a joke, it’s not funny anymore — when you read the transcript of an SNL skit, you’re not going to laugh, but you do when it’s performed. It seems one way in print, but the video would’ve looked very different.

Wetmore also brushes off criticism from conservatives; he thinks they should be grateful to him and O’Keefe.

ESQ: The conservative establishment isn’t happy about this scandal.

BW: Name a conservative issue that’s been passed in the last fifty years without provocation. Conservatives are deficient on tactics, so of course this is their reaction. But it’s like the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid — was it a better movie because they were outgunned and no one came to their aid? Yeah.

Are there any psychologists out there who need to write a paper on malignant narcissism? Here’s a perfect subject to study.