We can all see why, despite his many promises at his many trials to take the stand in his own defense, Donald Trump‘s lawyers would not allow it. The former reality TV host’s increasingly frantic efforts to talk his way out of the ballooning outrage over his flagrant cover-up of the Jeffrey Epstein case are backfiring, making him look like nothing more than a man who has a whole lot to hide.
After a decade in which his supporters have exhibited nothing but blind faith in him and his promises, Trump cannot believe they are now demanding that the Justice Department make public the voluminous documents and evidence about the deceased sex offender’s dealings. The president is unable to control his contempt for them. In the last couple of days, on his Truth Social platform and on camera, he’s called them “weaklings,” “stupid” and “foolish.”
Trump is trying to rebrand the furor as the “Jeffrey Epstein hoax.” After all, the word has served him well in the past; “hoax” has been his go-to description for dismissing true stories that he finds unfavorable.
Trump is trying to rebrand the furor as the “Jeffrey Epstein hoax.” The word has served him well in the past; “hoax” has been his go-to description for dismissing true stories he wants to deflect. From a certain vantage, he’s got a point. Trump is doing everything in his power to signal he is terrified of what those files might say about him personally.
Thursday night saw him continue his erratic behavior. Posting on his Truth Social network, Trump said he was authorizing Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek to “produce any and all Grand Jury Testimony, subject to Court approval,” a move that will likely do little to satisfy his MAGA critics. This followed the publication of a Wall Street Journal report alleging Trump had once sent Epstein a sexually graphic birthday card. Hours after it was published, Trump admitted he had tried to block the article and announced he would sue the newspaper and its parent company News Corp., as well as owner Rupert Murdoch. “President Trump has already beaten George Stephanopoulos/ABC, 60 Minutes/CBS, and others, and looks forward to suing and holding accountable the once great Wall Street Journal,” he posted on Truth Social, oddly referring to himself in third person.
But MAGA influencers keep talking as if they have faith he will be exonerated. On Wednesday, Charlie Kirk of Turning Points USA addressed Trump directly: “It’s not that people are saying, you know, they wanna learn about Epstein because they have any suspicion of President Trump. No. We don’t think — no one thinks — you’re involved in any way of that stuff whatsoever.” The word “stupid” comes to mind upon hearing that, so one can see why Trump went there. Because the president believes, with good reason, that if he were implicated in Epstein’s crimes, Kirk would cover for him. After all, by repeatedly voting against the release of the Epstein files, House Republicans are acting like they think Trump is guilty and needs them to protect him from consequences. Kirk’s reluctance to join the cover-up suggests he genuinely believes that none of this could backfire on Trump, which is, well, stupid.
The current congressional Republican strategy for simultaneously placating the MAGA base while shielding Trump is telling reporters they want further investigation while quietly blocking all efforts to make that happen. GOP Speaker of the House Mike Johnson of Louisiana called for “transparency” from Bondi, yet he voted against a bill that would force her to release the files. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., called on Epstein co-conspirator Ghislane Maxwell to testify before Congress, no doubt knowing full well that she’s appealing her federal conviction and would not want to jeopardize her chances by speaking publicly about the case. Multiple Republicans have called for the appointment of a special counsel to reinvestigate the case, but on Thursday afternoon White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, despite the growing outcry within the the party, Trump would not be making that recommendation.
On Wednesday night, the Washington Post reported that the White House fired Maurene Comey, a seasoned prosecutor for the Southern District of New York. Comey has worked on many high-profile cases, most recently helping secure a conviction for Sean Combs. But more crucially, she prosecuted Maxwell — and Epstein. Or would have, if he hadn’t died in jail. More than anyone else on the planet, Comey probably knows what’s in the unreleased Epstein documents. If there were any interest from Republicans or the White House in learning more, they would be talking to her, not showing her the door.
Ironically, Comey is behind the only apparent legitimate reason to hold back some of the documents. She has been fighting Maxwell’s efforts to get her conviction overturned, and Comey successfully convinced a federal judge that releasing more of the Epstein evidence could damage the case. She was especially concerned about keeping the victims safe, both on humanitarian grounds and because, if they’re re-traumatized, they may not be as cooperative.
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One would think that Trump would keep someone on board whose reasons for holding back the Epstein files are unassailable, which would be very convenient for him. Instead, the president is listening to people like his traveling companion Laura Loomer, a conspiracy theorist who has been pushing to use Comey as a scapegoat to blame for withholding the Epstein files. It’s another sign that, in his panic, Trump is not thinking clearly. If he wanted to claim Comey was standing in the way of full transparency, well, he fired her. Now that excuse has been forfeited, leaving him with few options other than to keep shouting at his supporters and hope they finally start to understand why he needs them to shut up about Epstein.
I hesitate to be optimistic, because Trump has escaped being held accountable so many times, in part because his base has shown they will sacrifice anything — including family relationships, economic stability and even their own lives — to avoid admitting it was wrong to vote for him. It’s entirely likely that the only reason so many MAGA folks are speaking out about the Epstein files now is their foolish faith that Trump isn’t in them. Their history of supporting him, even in the face of proof that he’s a sexual predator, suggests that most will find a way back to him, even if — perhaps especially if — presented with solid evidence that he was implicated in Epstein’s crimes.
But it’s also true that Trump is shortsighted and has the narcissist’s compulsion to say whatever he needs to in the moment to get approval. Older interviews, where he promises to release the files, show both tendencies on full display. It’s clear that Trump didn’t want to be talking about Epstein, but he will always say whatever he feels will sell well. So he promised to release the files, no doubt believing that he could break that promise, like he breaks every promise. In a sense, that wasn’t even a bad bet. Trump lies to his supporters constantly, and they never seem to mind, often because they feel like they’re in on the con. This is truly the first time I’ve seen many of them, even the wealthy influencers who should know better, express genuine confusion over why their beloved leader has obviously lied to them.
This a conundrum that Trump may not be able to wriggle away from. Much to his surprise, and frankly mine, it seems like his supporters have fully deluded themselves into thinking he can’t be in the Epstein files — so much so that Trump can’t seem to get them to understand what’s scaring him, even with signaling so obvious it reads as a near-confession to everyone outside the MAGA cult. They won’t lay off calls for him to release the files unless he offers a reason that makes sense to them. And he can’t tell them why he needs them to shut up, at least not without spelling out what he’s worried about is in there. That impasse is driving the conflict, and there doesn’t seem to be a satisfying resolution. And that is a condition in which coalitions, no matter how previously durable, start to fracture.
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