Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein: Why MAGA loyalists are abandoning the president
Trump's Truth Social posts backing up Pam Bondi's claim that the Epstein files were much ado about nothing showed that same brutal disregard for his devout fans. They had taken him seriously ? What fools!
He tried to subdue his MAGAcolytes – his 'boys' and 'gals' – by ordering them not to 'waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.' He said that those who are focused on the 'Jeffrey Epstein hoax' are 'selfish people,' 'PAST supporters' and 'weaklings' who had been 'conned by the Lunatic Left.'
If his fans couldn't focus on how great he was, better than 'perhaps any President in our Country's history,' Trump pouted in a post, 'I don't want their support anymore!'
One 'gal,' a Texan named Rosie, said she was brokenhearted. She replied on Truth Social that she has four daughters and 'can't even begin to comprehend the flipped narrative that 'it was so long ago' 'why are we still talking about this' and 'nobody should care.' These victims were some ones daughters, sisters, nieces, granddaughter. Someone's child. Please reconsider, sir.'
Donald and Melania Trump with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2002. Credit: Getty
He has lost some of his base's trust by refusing to deliver the goods, or to acknowledge that he used people such as Kash Patel and Dan Bongino to whip up the frenzy against the paedophile who gave rides to Trump and Bill Clinton on his plane dubbed by some the Lolita Express.
Trump bonded with Epstein years ago, although it's not clear if Trump knew the extent of Epstein's predations. He told New York Magazine in 2002 that Epstein 'likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.'
This past week was the first time Trump had such a dramatic rift with his supporters, who are often compared to a cult.
Trump, who rose to power with the help of Fox News, threatened Emma Tucker, editor of Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal , trying to stop its story about a bawdy letter and drawing he allegedly contributed to a 50th birthday book that Ghislaine Maxwell compiled for Epstein.
'I'm gonna sue The Wall Street Journal just like I sued everyone else,' he said in a call Tuesday with the Journal. (He filed the suit on Friday.) He denied that he ever drew an outline of a naked woman with his name scribbled in a salacious spot, along with writing an insinuating wish to Epstein that 'every day be another wonderful secret.' (What had to be kept secret, Donald?)
Loading
'I don't draw pictures,' he wrote on Truth Social, denouncing the 'FAKE letter' in the 'Fake Story.'
But Trump's lies – such as the one about his uncle at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Unabomber – are falling apart almost instantaneously. It immediately came out that he was a 'high-profile doodler,' as Tyler Pager put it in The New York Times , and that he donated drawings to charity in the early 2000s.
On Thursday, Trump posted that he had asked Bondi to produce 'any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval.' But judges usually keep such testimony secret. It was hilarious to see Trump hiding behind the judiciary he has tried to sideline.
The president, hoping to redirect the ire of the base back to its favourite chew toy, the mainstream media, posted that the Journal is a 'Disgusting and Filthy Rag.'
Natalie Winters, a reporter for Steve Bannon's War Room podcast, told Bannon that the Journal story made her feel 'gaslit' by the administration. 'I thought the DOJ had nothing related to Epstein,' she said. 'Well, this story sort of contradicts that. So why don't we release it? It's maddening.'
Twisting conspiracy theories into a Gordian knot of hate, Trump is claiming some Epstein files were 'made up' by Barack Obama, James Comey, 'Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration' and 'Crooked Hillary.'
It's tough to blame the deep state when you are the deep state.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times .
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
an hour ago
- West Australian
Risk of higher US tariffs looms despite beef deal
Australia's move to lift restrictions on US beef is unlikely to shift the dial on tariff negotiations, as the nation's products face the possibility of even steeper duties. The Albanese government will allow access to US beef that has been raised in Canada or Mexico but processed in America, following a safety review. Australia is subject to a baseline 10 per cent tariff applied by the Trump administration and has been keeping an eye on the trade negotiations of other countries. AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said Donald Trump's flagged higher tariffs might include the nation's exports. "The risk for Australia is that we may be lucky to hang on to 10 per cent, which could actually turn out to be higher," he told AAP. "This (beef decision) might help us hang on to 10 per cent or avoid a worse outcome, but I don't think there's any guarantees of that." American beef was banned from Australia almost two decades ago following an outbreak of mad cow disease. Mr Trump has pressured the government to ease restrictions as Labor argues for an exemption from the tariffs as part of the US president's deepening trade war. Former ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos said while biosecurity investigations can take a while to finalise, it was a "sensible outcome". "The challenge here is it doesn't look like we're putting together a package deal," he said. "It'd be better if there was a package approach to this if we're seeking to gather an overall trade outcome with the US." Australian Farm Institute executive director Katie McRobert said the cattle industry has been "extremely nervous" about biosecurity traceability from different parts of the north and South America regions. "We wouldn't expect a significant impact on Australian producers from the potential to import American beef ... because we already produce far more beef in Australia than we can possibly eat," she said. Trade Minister Don Farrell said he didn't have any meetings scheduled with American counterparts after last meeting US trade representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of an OECD ministerial meeting in Paris in June. Senator Farrell said Mr Greer didn't raise beef concerns at that meeting. "We believe that America should lift those tariffs on Australia, there's no justification whatsoever for the United States to apply tariffs to Australia," he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday. "We have a free trade agreement, that agreement makes it very clear that it's a tariff free arrangement." Senator Farrell also denied the move was to create a bargaining chip. The Philippines and Japan recently struck agreements with the US to lower their tariff rates, but both are still above the 10 per cent baseline.
Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Risk of higher US tariffs looms despite beef deal
Australia's move to lift restrictions on US beef is unlikely to shift the dial on tariff negotiations, as the nation's products face the possibility of even steeper duties. The Albanese government will allow access to US beef that has been raised in Canada or Mexico but processed in America, following a safety review. Australia is subject to a baseline 10 per cent tariff applied by the Trump administration and has been keeping an eye on the trade negotiations of other countries. AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said Donald Trump's flagged higher tariffs might include the nation's exports. "The risk for Australia is that we may be lucky to hang on to 10 per cent, which could actually turn out to be higher," he told AAP. "This (beef decision) might help us hang on to 10 per cent or avoid a worse outcome, but I don't think there's any guarantees of that." American beef was banned from Australia almost two decades ago following an outbreak of mad cow disease. Mr Trump has pressured the government to ease restrictions as Labor argues for an exemption from the tariffs as part of the US president's deepening trade war. Former ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos said while biosecurity investigations can take a while to finalise, it was a "sensible outcome". "The challenge here is it doesn't look like we're putting together a package deal," he said. "It'd be better if there was a package approach to this if we're seeking to gather an overall trade outcome with the US." Australian Farm Institute executive director Katie McRobert said the cattle industry has been "extremely nervous" about biosecurity traceability from different parts of the north and South America regions. "We wouldn't expect a significant impact on Australian producers from the potential to import American beef ... because we already produce far more beef in Australia than we can possibly eat," she said. Trade Minister Don Farrell said he didn't have any meetings scheduled with American counterparts after last meeting US trade representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of an OECD ministerial meeting in Paris in June. Senator Farrell said Mr Greer didn't raise beef concerns at that meeting. "We believe that America should lift those tariffs on Australia, there's no justification whatsoever for the United States to apply tariffs to Australia," he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday. "We have a free trade agreement, that agreement makes it very clear that it's a tariff free arrangement." Senator Farrell also denied the move was to create a bargaining chip. The Philippines and Japan recently struck agreements with the US to lower their tariff rates, but both are still above the 10 per cent baseline.
Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
UK touted as important partner as US uncertainty grows
The United Kingdom has fast become one of Australia's most important defence allies amid turmoil under the Trump administration, a security analyst says. Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles will host their UK counterparts David Lammy and John Healey in Sydney for joint talks on Friday. Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Alex Bristow said ministerial meetings moving to more of a six-monthly cycle rather than their traditional annual timeline highlighted strengthened ties between the two nations. "The tempo of it increasing, I think, is a signal that Britain is moving into an elite category," he told AAP. The UK was probably third behind Japan and the US in terms of how strategically significant the defence relationship was to Australia, Dr Bristow said. The UK's Carrier Strike Group, led by Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales, arrived in Darwin on Wednesday as Australia's largest military exercise Talisman Sabre is underway. It's the first UK carrier strike group to visit Australia since 1997. It is an international task group which includes five core ships, 24 jets, and 17 helicopters, centred around the flagship aircraft carrier. UK High Commissioner to Australia Sarah MacIntosh said the arrival of the strike group was a demonstration of commitment to the region and the strong relationship with Canberra. "This is an anchor relationship in a contested world," she said. Dr Bristow said Australia should be welcoming carrier strike groups from European countries. He said NATO had identified China as a threat to its interests as Beijing continues to collaborate with Russia and North Korea. "It's entirely in the interests of European allies in NATO to be working with Indo-Pacific allies," Dr Bristow said. The US has promised to sell Australia nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS agreement, which has since been put under review by the Trump administration. The three-nation pact, which includes the UK, will likely be discussed during the high level talks in Sydney. Defence analysts believe a likely outcome of the review will be a request for more money from Australia towards the US submarine industrial base, rather than the deal being scrapped. The Australian government has said it remains confident in the nuclear-submarine deal being delivered.
