The Epstein Storm
As we await the release of the Epstein files, let’s revisit QAnon.
Over the years, I’ve briefed several elected officials and their staff about the false QAnon conspiracy theory. It’s always surreal to explain to a member of Congress that QAnon followers believe that the Democratic Party is part of a broader satanist cabal of pedophiles, and then face the inevitable follow-up question: Wait, do these folks think I’m a satanist pedophile? I haven’t done one of these briefings in a few years, at least partly because QAnon followers have since been elected to Congress, and presumably any member of the Democratic Caucus who has questions can now go straight to the source.
QAnon conspiracies and the ideology that drive them have been absorbed almost wholly into the MAGA coalition, fully integrated into the MAGA Cinematic Universe. Media Matters senior researcher Alex Kaplan has doggedly tracked every instance of Donald Trump’s signaling to QAnon, as recently as this week. Pandering to the MAGA base on the campaign trail meant throwing red meat about conspiracy theories, and the promise that if reelected, Trump would expose all of the pedophiles once and for all. Starting with Jeffrey Epstein.
In making these promises, Trump has painted himself into a corner. The specter of Jeffrey Epstein is an albatross around Trump’s neck and one of few things that consistently derails his administration. The constant drip of information about Trump’s relationship with Epstein that the public has learned since his DOJ attempted to bury the release of the Epstein files has been stomach-turning. We don’t know what’s in the complete Epstein files yet, but we know that Donald Trump is doing everything he can to ensure the public never finds out. He’s clearly desperate to keep that Pandora’s box permanently closed.
That’s created a wedge in the MAGA coalition that Trump hasn’t been able to repair. Next week, the Republican-controlled Congress will almost certainly force the release of the Epstein files, despite aggressive efforts from Trump and Republican leadership to prevent it. GOP leadership expects “mass defections” from members who would normally abide by Trump’s wishes. Trump continues to pressure Republican members of Congress, even summoning Rep. Lauren Boebert to the White House Situation Room to try and change her vote. But his efforts continue to fail.
The vast majority of Americans want the complete Epstein files released. It’s the one thing we can all agree on, an issue that might even allow some of us to find common ground with our MAGA relatives at the Thanksgiving table this year. It’s also the only thing I can think of where MAGA hasn’t fallen in line or let Trump off the hook. Sure, they might start creating a new narrative fiction about Trump the minute they get ahold of the Epstein files, but they want to see what’s contained in those files for themselves.
I expect the news cycle to go completely bonkers once the files are released. We got a taste of it this week when the US House Oversight Committee released a trove of 20,000 Epstein-related documents it had access to. If you want to dive in, my COURIER colleague Camaron Stevenson has created a searchable database to make these files more accessible to the public. What we learned from this dump alone about Trump’s relationship with Epstein – and about Epstein’s emails in general – was enough to make my skin crawl. It will only get worse for him from here. The only question is precisely how much worse?
The more I learn about Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and the network of powerful elites in their orbit, the more I think about QAnon. Proponents of the false QAnon conspiracy theory have caused significant harm, but they’ve also been remarkably consistent about Epstein. More than I would have expected after years of tracking their conspiracy theories and how those theories evolve when they meet up with reality.
In the original QAnon conspiracy theory, Trump was the hero who had come to power to bring about “the storm,” a day of reckoning where Trump’s takeover would be complete and the pedophiles in government would finally be punished. A day of reckoning is almost certainly upon us, and Trump will be at the center of it. But most likely as a villain, not the hero.
ICYMI
Report: The Authoritarian Stack h/t to Nerd Reich’s Gil Duran for sharing this with his readers. The most important thing you’ll read all year.
The Secretive Donor Circle That Lifted JD Vance is Now Rewriting MAGA’s Future (Washington Post) I shared a stage with Chris Buskirk years ago at a college speaking gig. At the time, I had no clue who he was and it still surprises me how essential he’s become in JD Vance’s political life.
Inside the Hidden Conservative Network Bankrolling an “Ecosystem” of Right-Wing News (Mother Jones) Lots of “follow the money” content this week. As a reminder, the left could do something along these lines, too.
How Elon Musk is Boosting the British Right (Sky News) Musk and his fellow billionaires want to rule the world, not just America.
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Coda
I talked to The National Journal for an article about candidates with controversial online histories and whether or not it matters to voters.
That’s all for this week. Talk to you again next Sunday!
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It's really remarkable, isn't it?
The Republicans are playing chess, Dems are playing checkers.
Here is why. There are about 100 Republicans that are vulnerable in 2026, they need to show that they aren't puppets, and have a backbone and morals. These are the ones that will vot yea for H.R. 4405, the Epstein files.
It is a safe vote, because it won't get past the senate, and if it did Trump would veto it, and there aren't enough senate votes for an override.
Trump is safe as is those vulnerable congress men.
I will get even more conspiratorial,, the Four Republicans who voted for the discharge petition, (Massie, Boebert, MTG, Mace) were playing their part in Kabuki theater, they also have constituents that need to be placated. They were loyal Trump humper, and, especially MTG per her own current statement she still is.
IMO there is a farce, worthy of Shakespeare playing out in the political sphere.
Words are cheap,.
This also serves Trump and the Republicans, because it has given Trump an excuse to have DOJ investigate the Democrats.
And per the rules< Bondi doesn't have to release the files, because they are essential to a current investigation (of Clinton, summers, Jamie Dimon, et al)
Again Trump escapes. I learned my lesson from the Mueller brouha, the documents brouha, all of it. The problem is that Democrats grasp at straws, and get diverted, when there is even a whiff, of a chance that some scandal will dethrone the King.
We are using the wrong tools to chop down the tree. Here is an example, Trump is knee deep in NAZI's, and his chief advisor is the grandson of people who plot pogroms in eastern Europe, he can't move a foot left or right without bumping into a NAZI, but he is using anti semitism as an excuse to deny visa's and extradite people. and defund universities.
And he keeps the crows occupied and crazed, by throwing bright shiny baubles in front of the, constantly.
Someone needs to do a political regression analysis to determine the real end game.