July 15, 2025

Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Annette’s Roundup for Democracy.

The MAGA Crisis about the Jeffrey Epstein Files.

Heather Cox Richardson, July 13. Letters from an American.

This weekend saw the development of an extraordinary rift in MAGA world.

The conflict began last Monday when the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a memo saying that it had conducted a thorough review of all the evidence the department had collected about convicted sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein, who died in his prison cell in 2019 awaiting trial on additional sex-trafficking charges. The memo said that the department’s “systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list’” and that there was “no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions.” It said the DOJ and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which operates within the DOJ, had determined “that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”

The memo also said FBI investigators had concluded that Epstein died by suicide, releasing footage from a camera from the unit in which Epstein was being held at the time of his death.

For years now, Trump and his loyalists have claimed Epstein was murdered to protect the rich and powerful men who were preying on children. This theory dovetailed with the QAnon conspiracy theory that Trump was combating a secret ring of cannibalistic child molesters who included Democratic politicians, government officials, film stars, and businessmen. MAGA influencers, including Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, pushed the Epstein theories, and MAGA followers believed them, hoping to bring down Democratic politicians like the Clintons.

Once in power, they vowed, they would release the client list and provide the truth about Epstein’s death. In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi told the Fox News Channel that the client list was “sitting on my desk right now.” Patel is now director of the FBI—in part because MAGA senators like Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) believed he would release more information on Epstein and child sex trafficking rings—and Bongino is the FBI’s deputy director. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) called for Americans to vote for Trump in 2024 because “Americans deserve to know why Epstein didn’t kill himself.”

The announcement that the DOJ would not provide further information and that Epstein had died by suicide set off a firestorm among MAGA. Far-right influencer Jack Posobiec wrote: “We were all told more was coming. That answers were out there and would be provided.”

On Tuesday, when a reporter asked about Epstein during a press opportunity at a cabinet meeting, Trump responded: “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years. Are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is unbelievable.”

Trump’s attempt to turn attention away from the story only drew attention to it. While MAGA focused on the idea that the people on an Epstein client list would be Democrats, in fact the person most closely associated with Epstein in popular culture was Trump himself. The two men were photographed and filmed together a number of times. In 2002, according to New York magazine, Trump said: “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy…. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

On June 5, after a falling-out with Trump, billionaire Elon Musk posted on social media: “Time to drop the really big bomb: [Trump] is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” He followed that post up with another saying: “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.” He later deleted the posts and said they had gone too far.
After Trump tried to downplay the story last week, it gained momentum. MAGA influencers began to call for Bondi to be fired, and Bongino began to talk of resigning from the FBI over Bondi’s memo and handling of the issue.

Then, at 5:21 Saturday evening, Eastern Daylight Time, Trump posted a long, incoherent screed on social media. In it, he defended Attorney General Pam Bondi—who is, of course, doing his bidding concerning the files—and tried to bring MAGA together again, warning that “selfish people” were trying to hurt his “PERFECT administration” by focusing on Epstein. In apparent contradiction to the story Bondi had told, he suggested the Epstein files existed, but then nonsensically said they were “written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration, who conned the World with the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, 51 ‘Intelligence’ Agents, ‘THE LAPTOP FROM HELL,’ and more? They created the Epstein Files, just like they created the FAKE Hillary Clinton/Christopher Steele Dossier that they used on me, and now my so-called “friends” are playing right into their hands. Why didn’t these Radical Left Lunatics release the Epstein Files? If there was ANYTHING in there that could have hurt the MAGA Movement, why didn’t they use it? They haven’t even given up on the John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr. Files,” he wrote.

“No matter how much success we have had, securing the Border, deporting Criminals, fixing the Economy, Energy Dominance, a Safer World where Iran will not have Nuclear Weapons, it’s never enough for some people. We are about to achieve more in 6 months than any other Administration has achieved in over 100 years, and we have so much more to do. We are saving our Country and, MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, which will continue to be our complete PRIORITY,” Trump wrote.

“The Left is imploding! Kash Patel, and the FBI, must be focused on investigating Voter Fraud, Political Corruption, ActBlue, The Rigged and Stolen Election of 2020, and arresting Thugs and Criminals, instead of spending month after month looking at nothing but the same old, Radical Left inspired Documents on Jeffrey Epstein. LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB—SHE’S GREAT! The 2020 Election was Rigged and Stolen, and they tried to do the same thing in 2024—That’s what she is looking into as AG, and much more.

“One year ago our Country was DEAD, now it’s the ‘HOTTEST’ Country anywhere in the World. Let’s keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

For the first time ever, Trump got ratioed on his own platform, meaning that there were more comments on his post than likes or shares, showing disapproval of his message. According to Jordan King of Newsweek, by 10:45 this morning (Eastern Time) it had more than 36,000 replies but only 11,000 reposts and 32,000 likes.

Trump sounds panicked, not only over the Epstein issue itself, but also because he cannot control the narrative his followers are embracing. After stoking the fire of his followers’ anger against what they seemed to see as powerful men getting away with crimes against children, he is now being burned by it. His reflex is to return to his greatest hits, accusing Democrats of writing the Epstein files and then, as he always, always, always does, snapping back to the Russia scandal and calling it a hoax.

Over the weekend, attendees at a conference held by the right-wing Turning Point USA booed the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein case. MAGA influencers kept up the drumbeat; Matt Walsh called the administration’s about-face on releasing information “obvious bullsh*t.” Natalie Allison of the Washington Post reported that even the Fox News Channel warned this morning that “[t]here has to be some explanation” and that questions about the way the administration is handling the Epstein files were “very valid.”

Musk, who controls the X social media platform preferred by the right wing, is amplifying the story. After Trump’s Saturday post, Musk wrote to his 222 million followers: “Seriously. He said ‘Epstein’ half a dozen times while telling everyone to stop talking about Epstein. Just release the files as promised.”

Trump appears to be planning to regain control of the narrative by persecuting his political opponents.
But it is not clear that will silence MAGA voters who backed Trump in part because they thought he would lead the fight against an elite group of pedophiles controlling the country. As Trump’s policies on the economy, immigration, tax cuts, firing of government employees, and gutting of disaster relief have soured Americans on his administration, loyalists stayed behind him. Now he has turned against their chief cause, giving them an off-ramp from a presidency that seems increasingly off the rails.

Mike Flynn, who served as Trump’s first national security advisor until forced to resign for lying about his contact with Russian operatives, posted on social media: “[President Trump] please understand the EPSTEIN AFFAIR is not going away. If the administration doesn’t address the massive number of unanswered questions about Epstein, especially the ABUSE OF CHILDREN BY ELITES (it is very clear that abuse occurred), then moving forward on so many other monumental challenges our nation is facing becomes much harder.”

Flynn concluded: “We cannot allow pedophiles to get away. I don’t personally care who they are or what elite or powerful position they hold. They must be exposed and held accountable!!!”

Trump says STOP IT! MAGA Epstein talk continues.

Trump,at his most incoherent, tweet-rants about the MAGA Split.👇

Trump full out explodes about MAGA demands about Epstein.👇

Why would anyone think Trump knew Epstein!👇

Trump’s most celebrated line about Epstein proves he knew what was happening. 👇

Trump was quoted on this in October 2002. Yes. 2002. He was quoted because he and Epstein were “buds.” This quotation was all over MAGA social media this weekend.

The MAGA General is leading this battle.👇

The man that he made his co-president for a time keeps talking about Epstein. He started on July 5th and hasn’t stopped yet.

Megan Kelly too.

Most recently, Lara Trump spoke out -

Politico. Lara Trump said in a podcast interview that she believes the administration will release additional documents from the Epstein investigation, and hopes it will happen soon.

“I do think that there needs to be more transparency on this, and I think that that will happen,” she said on a podcast hosted by conservative commentator Benny Johnson. “I believe that there will probably be more coming on this. And I believe anything that they are able to release that doesn’t, you know, damage any witnesses or anyone underage or anything like that, I believe they’ll probably try to get out sooner rather than later,” she added.

Democrats are not going to let this die.

Michelle Goldberg - Trump’s Fans Forgive Him Everything. Why Not Epstein?

Many MAGA folks are really QAnon types that think America is ruled by pedaphiles. Remember Pizzagate, when a man came to a pizza store with a gun, to free children he thought Hillary was trafficking. Epstein is critical to MAGA’s view of a sexually-perverted elite ruling America. Trump is supposed to expose them. They don’t imagine he is the pervert.

Over the last squalid decade, many of us have let go of the hope that Donald Trump could do or say anything to shake the faith of his ardent base. They’ve been largely unfazed by boasts of sexual assault and porn star payoffs, an attempted coup and obscenely self-enriching crypto schemes. They cheered wildly at his promises to build a wall paid for by Mexico, then shrugged when it didn’t happen. The BBC reported on a 39-year-old Iranian immigrant whose devotion to Trump endured even when she was put in ICE detention. “I will support him until the day I die,” she said from lockup. “He’s making America great again.”

So it’s been fascinating to watch a vocal part of Trump’s movement revolt over his administration’s handling of files from the case of Jeffrey Epstein, the sex-trafficking financier who died in jail in 2019 in what was ruled a suicide. Running for president, Trump promised to release the Epstein files, which some thought would contain evidence of murder. “Yet another good reason to vote for Trump,” Senator Mike Lee of Utah, a Republican, wrote on social media. “Americans deserve to know why Epstein didn’t kill himself.”

Some of the influencers who now staff Trump’s administration built their followings by spinning wild stories about the case, promising revelations that would lay their enemies low. Epstein’s client list “is going to rock the political world,” Dan Bongino, now deputy director of the F.B.I., said in September. Appearing on Fox News in February, Attorney General Pam Bondi was asked whether her department would release “a list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients.” She responded, “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”

Now she says there was no such client list. Last week, the Justice Department and the F.B.I. released a memo saying that Epstein killed himself and no more information would be forthcoming: “It is the determination of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.” Trump has implored his followers to forget about Epstein, writing, in a petulant Truth Social post, that the files were “written by Obama, Crooked Hillary” and various other deep state foes. Let’s “not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about,” he wrote.

But he was wrong: Lots of people care. Trump’s followers responded to his attempt to wave Epstein away with uncharacteristic fury and disappointment. Bongino has reportedly threatened to resign over Bondi’s handling of the case. Epstein was a major subject at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit, a conservative conference that began on Friday. Speaking from the stage in Tampa, Fla., the comedian Dave Smith accused Trump of actively covering up “a giant child rapist ring.” The audience cheered and applauded.

Having nurtured conspiracy theories for his entire political career, Trump suddenly seems in danger of being consumed by one. In many ways it’s delicious to watch, but there’s also reason for anxiety, because for some in Trump’s movement, this setback is simply proof that they’re up against a conspiracy more powerful than they’d ever imagined. “What we just learned is that dealing with the Epstein Operation is above the President’s pay grade,” posted Bret Weinstein, an evolutionary biologist and podcaster. An important question, going forward, is who they decide is pulling the strings.

Epstein obsessives are right to be suspicious about the weird turns the case has taken. So much about it feels inexplicable, including the sweetheart plea deal Epstein got in 2008, and the fact that he was apparently able to kill himself despite being one of the most monitored inmates in the country. Even if it turns out that a review of the case doesn’t implicate anyone who hasn’t already been charged, it should be a scandal that Bondi misled the public about the existence of a client list.

But the administration lies all the time — that alone doesn’t explain why this issue has so tested the MAGA coalition. To understand why it’s such a crisis, you need to understand the crucial role that Epstein plays in the mythologies buttressing MAGA. The case is of equal interest to QAnon types, who see in Epstein’s crimes proof of their conviction that networks of elite pedophiles have hijacked America, and of right-wing critics of Israel, who are convinced that Epstein worked for the Mossad, the country’s spy service.

Trumpism has always been premised on the idea that he’s warring against dark, even satanic globalist forces, and within the movement there’s a fierce yearning for the cathartic moment when those forces will be exposed and vanquished. The Epstein files were supposed to show the world, once and for all, the scale of the evil system that Trump’s voters believe he is fighting. “Epstein is a key that picks the lock on so many things,” Steve Bannon said at the Turning Point conference.

The way Trumpists have made this case a cause célèbre can seem bizarre to outsiders. After all, Trump’s friendship with the sex-trafficking financier has been widely documented. Epstein’s best-known victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, said she was recruited at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club. And Trump has his own history of alleged creepiness around underage girls; several teenage contestants in one of his beauty pageants accused him of deliberately walking in on them when they were undressed. As Senator Jon Ossoff, Democrat of Georgia, said at a rally this weekend, “Did anyone really think the sexual predator president who used to party with Jeffrey Epstein was going to release the Epstein files?”

But I’ve always seen the fantasy of Trump as a warrior against sex trafficking as a way for his followers to manage their cognitive dissonance about his obvious personal degeneracy. To believe that they are on the side of light while championing a man of such low character, Trump’s acolytes have had to conjure an enemy of vast and titanic evil, and invent a version of Trump that never existed.

Among those on the right who believe there’s an Epstein coverup, few seem to be entertaining the idea that Trump is protecting himself. That, after all, would require a re-evaluation of his integrity and their judgment. But they still take for granted that Epstein was trafficking girls to powerful men and then blackmailing them, and that he was killed so he couldn’t talk. Now they have to figure out why Trump won’t give them the information they long for. The most logical explanation, said Tucker Carlson on his podcast last week, is “that intel services are at the very center of this story, U.S. and Israeli, and they’re being protected.”

This notion has become so widespread that Israel’s government tried to address it. “There is no evidence — none — that Epstein was acting on behalf of the State of Israel,” wrote the Israeli minister Amichai Chikli in an open letter addressed to Turning Point’s head, Charlie Kirk. But Chikli couldn’t resist using the case against his more centrist political enemies, saying he wants to understand Epstein’s connection to “former Israeli prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, who both appear in previously published Epstein-related documents.”

This will not, I suspect, put theories about Epstein as a Zionist operative to bed. Without them, Trump’s followers would have to admit they were duped, that MAGA has never been a Manichaean battle against sex criminals, and Trump glommed onto the Epstein story only to help him win an election.

The entanglement of the Epstein drama with American debates about the Jewish state portends some dark developments. I won’t pretend to know whether Epstein ever worked for the Israelis, though I can’t imagine Trump covering for them at any cost to himself. I’m worried, however, about people blaming Jews for the strange and unresolvable parts of his sordid story. Scroll through X, and you’ll see they already are.

It’s worth recalling the origin of the phrase “cognitive dissonance,” which was coined in the 1950s by Leon Festinger, an author of the book “When Prophecy Fails.” Festinger and his co-authors studied an apocalyptic U.F.O. cult, with an eye to what happened when the spaceship didn’t appear as predicted. Some members, disillusioned, left the group. Most, however, maintained or redoubled their commitment. The problem for Trump is that some of his followers need to choose between their commitment to him, and to the narrative that justified his rise. (Michelle Goldberg, Column, New York Times).

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