MAGA is Big Mad About Jeffrey Epstein
The Trump Regime’s Attempts to Bury This Story Failed Miserably
In the MAGA Cinematic Universe, every politician not named Donald Trump is a pedophile, and Donald Trump ran for president to take down the pedophile ring that supposedly runs America’s Deep State. With all the current horrors of the Trump Regime, it’s easy to forget how many people in his MAGA base honestly believe every false conspiracy theory, and that these false theories are the issue that matters most to these folks. But a week after the Trump Regime attempted to close the books on all things Jeffrey Epstein, it’s clear that MAGA’s collective brains are now broken.
The funniest thing about the Trump Regime’s attempt to bury its shutdown of Jeffrey Epstein investigations is that they thought catastrophic flooding in Texas would be enough to distract their conspiratorial base from finding out. The MAGA base was built on conspiracy theories, stoked by Trump’s own obsession with them, and forged in QAnon. The COVID pandemic was arguably a mass-radicalization event, bringing new conspiracy believers into the MAGA fold and driving their true believers even further into the MAGA Cinematic Universe.
Donald Trump and his political operation have always known this. On the campaign trail, they made sure to feed the base a steady diet of nods to QAnon and embraced Robert Kennedy Jr’s conspiracy-laden campaign. The Trump Regime packed the cabinet with MAGA influencers that the conspiracy-believers love, starting with RFK Jr., but also Kash Patel and Dan Bongino. False conspiracy theories and the people who are obsessed with them now drive policy in the US, and are destroying the U.S. Federal Government one agency at a time.
Conspiracy theories around Jeffrey Epstein are the rare mainstream-ish thing that the MAGA base is obsessed with. One where they might even find common ground with any non-MAGA friends and family they still talk to. There were criminal prosecutions, lawsuits, a British Royal forced to resign from public duties, a billionaire’s divorce, and several other individuals and institutions whose reputation was stained forever by the association with Epstein. Plenty of us who don’t live in the MAGA Cinematic Universe have no trouble considering the idea that we don’t know everything, that there was likely at least one cover-up attempt, and might at least entertain the possibility that Epstein’s death is suspicious.
Epstein was MAGA’s best chance to show the world that they weren’t crazy, that they’d been right all along, and that Donald Trump was, in fact, anointed by God to “drain the swamp” and punish the pedophiles they believe actually run the world. Now, that’s gone.
Generally, when the MAGA base gets upset at Trump over something, they find someone in his administration to blame, coalesce around their love for their God Emperor, and fall back into line after a few days. But a whole week since Pam Bondi’s announcement, and the MAGA base is still upset and getting more riled up by the hour.
Media Matters has a solid roundup of where the MAGA media ecosystem stands right now, but things have become even more bizarre since that post was written. Dan Bongino apparently took a mental health day off from work on Friday, and he’s now threatening to resign via multiple media outlets, saying it’s him or Bondi. MAGA Influencers continue to fan the flames, with both Michael Flynn and Elon Musk calling on Trump to release the files.
Donald Trump’s strategy is posting through it, but every time he posts, it gets worse for him. He’s tried ordering his base to stop talking about Epstein and claiming Obama, Hillary, etc., fabricated the Epstein files to begin with, but his base isn’t having it. The replies to his TruthSocial posts are overwhelmingly negative, and these folks are mad as hell.
The sense of betrayal felt by these individuals is almost understandable. They were never going to have a more friendly group of people in power for their cause, especially with Patel and Bongino running the FBI. Still, MAGA got nothing. Instead of gloating about how they were right all along, they’re now probably catching even more grief from the non-MAGA folks in their lives. It would be a gut punch.
To be clear, I have no empathy for these folks. It’s one thing to believe in conspiracy theories, but quite another to be responsible for our current situation in the US because of your Trump support. Personally, I hope they feel the humiliation and all the associated emotions that come with this. Not because I have any hope they’ll see the light. But because a demoralized base will be more likely to stay home and not engage at all.
Trolling MAGA over Epstein is a good use of our time, and I applaud any and all efforts to do so. Already, I’ve seen former CNN reporter Jim Acosta say that the White House’s actions are perhaps “a major cover-up” and encourage MAGA not to let this go. Per Reporting from Punchbowl News, Maryland Senator Van Hollen trying to pass an amendment that would require “Attorney General Pam Bondi to “retain, preserve, and compile any records or evidence related to any investigation, prosecution, or incarceration of Jeffrey Epstein” and then provide a report to the CJS panel within 60 days of enactment of the bill.” Still others, like Bill Kristol, are reminding us all what Trump himself has said about Epstein and the existing photos of them together.
Finally, as much as I hate to do it, we have to discuss Elon Musk's own attempts to troll Trump regarding Epstein. Last month, Musk infamously accused Trump of being in the Epstein files when the two were openly feuding online. Now, Musk has decided to form his own political party, The America Party, and is promising that releasing the Epstein files will be one of the America Party’s top priorities. A clear attempt to come for Trump’s base.
I expect Musk’s attempts to create a viable political party to go about as well as his Twitter takeover and DOGE did, but he does own X, possibly the largest far-right radicalization engine online. (And that’s without even getting into Grok the predator Nazi AI who now prefers to be called MechaHitler.) If anyone could siphon some of Trump’s base away from him or at least demoralize those folks into pure apathy, Musk probably has the best shot at doing so.
Where does this end? I honestly don’t know. I’ve been chatting with several researchers and advocates who track MAGA, and while no one is ready to draw any conclusions, there’s a general agreement that we’re in uncharted territory. A few days ago, I would have said there’s no chance these folks turn against Donald Trump, but that’s starting to feel like an open question. Stay tuned…
ICYMI
Conspiracy Theories About the Texas Floods Lead to Death Threats (Wired)
Not just the conspiracy theories, but also that those who believe them are inspired to commit crimes. At this point, it’s inevitable, but we can’t look away even when we might very much want to.
How Strategic Litigation Feeds On and Fuels Political Narrative (Lawfare)
Important read: “As interdisciplinary scholars of online rumors and persuasion tactics, we have observed an ongoing dynamic of how strategic MAGA politicos have taken emergent or fringe rumors about election fraud and propelled them into mainstream consciousness—not only through social media manipulation but also through litigation.”
Trump 2.0’s First 100 Days: Authoritarian Gains and Consolidation (Political Research Associates)
Good overview of how much has changed since the regime came back to power from PRA.
State of American Men 2025 (Equimundo)
Equimundo puts out this report annually, and it’s always worth a read. “At a time when narratives around masculinity are increasingly divisive and distorted, this annual study cuts through the noise with a clear, compassionate message: Men are not in crisis because of who they are — they’re in crisis because of what they lack.”
Blake Lively vs. the ‘Misogyny Slop Ecosystem’ (NY Times)
I’m pretty grumpy about all things New York Times this week, but Kat Tenbarge being able to publish her incredible work for a larger audience is worth a link. No one is covering this story as well as her, and she deserves this platform.
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That’s all for this week. Please enjoy this video of Jesse Welles singing about Epstein’s list (or the lack of one!) See you again next Sunday!
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Excellent article, as usual. What the "base" is too stupid to realize, but Trump is not, is that the files and/or videos will incriminate him as much as or more than anyone. else.
Strange as it seems, I'm relieved to know that others better informed than I are as flummoxed as I am. My take for several years now has been that the Federalist Society, the Heritage Foundation, and the Project 2025 crowd have been thinking all along that they could control Trump, who could control MAGA. This assumption seems to have exploded in rather spectacular fashion.
What I'm dying to know: How are the Federalist Society et al. reacting to all this? And how the hell do "we the rational people" lure the MAGAs, the white Christian evangelists, and the hardcore conspiracists back into a body politic where commonsense and evidence actually matters?