After nearly a decade of stoking conspiracy theories insisting that he was ordained to destroy a pedophile cabal in control of the nation, President Donald Trump would like everyone to shut up about Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender and trafficker of underage girls who was known to pal around with high-profile figures — including Trump..
The extended MAGA universe continues to shred itself over the Trump administration backtracking on promises to release documents and evidence related to the Epstein case. As House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other prominent members of the GOP push for the transparency promised to them by the president and members of his Cabinet, Trump is all but commanding them to forget about it.
“Scams and Hoaxes are all the Democrats are good at — It’s all they have — They are no good at governing, no good at policy, and no good at picking winning candidates,” Trump wrote Wednesday morning on Truth Social, continuing his effort to baselessly reframe the Epstein files as a hoax orchestrated by former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former FBI Director James Comey.
“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker. They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years,” Trump added.
The president also complained that despite — in his view — having “more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country’s history,” people are talking about the Epstein files instead of showering him with praise. Trump insisted that he no longer wants the support of “weaklings” who fall for “the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.”
Trump knew Epstein during the time the disgraced financier was a tabloid and New York social scene staple, and once praised him as a “terrific guy” in an interview. In 2020, Trump told then Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he wasn’t sure if Epstein actually killed himself.
The president is now flailing through a problem of his own making. Figures like FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino made names for themselves in the MAGA universe by pushing conspiracies surrounding the death of Epstein and his alleged trove of sexual blackmail on scores of prominent figures. Patel and Bongino were elevated to their current positions while promising Trump sycophants they would expose the supposed coverup. Attorney General Pam Bondi built credibility for herself among the Trump base by making similar promises after becoming attorney general.
When you build a movement on innuendo and conjecture, conspiracies and alleged coverups, turning around and telling the true believers to suddenly forget it is bound to backfire.
